Council committee decides noise complaint against new restaurant doesn't warrant changing ordinance

City Clerk-Treasurer Phyllis Hudson listened as Council Members Southworth, Hicks and Simoff talked. (Photo by Sarah Ladd)

By Sarah Ladd
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

The Finance, Ordinance and Policy Committee of the Midway City Council decided Thursday that a recent noise complaint doesn’t warrant changing the city’s noise ordinance.

The complaint came from a community member against the Brown Barrel for playing a radio too loud before the restaurant opened for the day. The complainant, who was not identified at the meeting, said they approached the business in person before filing a complaint. The city sent the business a letter on May 15 requesting compliance with the ordinance.

Committee members Sara Hicks, Bruce Southworth and Steve Simoff discussed the complaint and read through the ordinance, which covers “excessive noise that adversely affects the community and individuals” that may cause irritants or health concerns. The ordinance’s standards for “excessive noise” cover power equipment, construction, motor vehicles and “noise that disturbs a reasonable person” among others. The ordinance applies to noises audible from a distance of 50 feet.

Southworth said he has been in the area and does not think the music is too loud.

Simoff said that since the committee members did not hear the music at the time of the alleged disturbance, they have nothing on which to base a revision of the ordinance.

The three concurred that nothing in the ordinance forbids the business from playing music, and that the issue is a result of commercial areas being so close to residential areas. “This is what comes from living in a commercial area,” Hicks said.

The Brown Barrel opened in Midway a few months ago into a building that had been vacant for years.

Hicks added later, “It seems to me that our ordinance is reasonable and fair, and I don’t really see a reason to change it.”