Proposal Will Let Music play in Asbury Park’s downtown
Changes remove costly report but requires new sound mitigation rules
Asbury Park’s Director of Planning and Redevelopment has put forth changes that would eliminate the costly sound engineer’s report in lieu of sound mitigation.
During her presentation to the City Council Monday night, Alonso said it is of no surprise to anyone that separate standards for sound exist in the downtown corridor than in the rest of the city.
The Central Business District [CBD] redevelopment asked venues that played any form of music to submit an engineer’s report that outlined sound mitigation efforts. The downtown corridor is lined with mixed use buildings with commercial space on the lower floors and homes on its upper stories.
Business owners were sent letters with the past month asking them to submit the report, at estimated $1525 cost, or turn off the music.
“The way this section of the redevelopment was written [in the 2011 amendment] it was very broad,” Alonso [at right] said. “It pertain to any form of music being played electronically. This of course meant everything from a radio to a live band.”
The current laws were created when the proposed redevelopment plans for the third floor Upstage nightclub at 700 Cookman Ave were approved, officials said. Those plans were not realized and the building, now owned by the Ross brothers, is slated to open as a mixed use ground floor retail space with four homes on the upper floors.
Alonso said performance guidelines in terms of permitted decibel levels will remain for all businesses but new laws will be placed on the entertainment and fitness centers.
“In order to assist in achieving the above listed standards, eating and drinking establishments, fitness centers, performance space and performing studios, live music venues, venues where music is provided by a DJ, or any commercial establishment with residential units above the commercial unit or any commercial establishment where there are residential units in the adjacent property are required to install sound insulating materials as part of a Planning Board submission as well as in a construction plan submittal for substantial rehabilitation of more than 50 percent,” Alonso said.
This means any newly established business that plans more than a 50 percent overall of the existing facility must incorporate insulation in the walls and ceilings as well as any other sound mitigation measures. Existing businesses are grandfathered in, she said.
“The sound mitigation report did not achieve what we were looking for because it did prevent someone from violating their own report,” Alonso said.
The proposed changes will now go before the Planning Board for vetting to ensure it is consistent with the city’s master plan. If approved it will come back before the City Council as an ordinance, requiring an introduction and public hearing.
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