Muffling the arts

Barbara Diamond

Sharon and Roger McErlane just want a little peace and quiet, and they

want the city to help them get it.

The couple and six of their neighbors complained to the City Council

recently about the noise they say ricochets off the Festival of Arts

grounds and echoes in the surrounding hillside neighborhoods. They want

the complaints to be heard loud and clear.

“In 1995, the city said we could participate in the negotiations

between the city and the festival,” said McErlane, who lives above the

festival grounds. “We feel the city has not honored its commitment to

include the citizens of our neighborhood and of Mystic Hills.”

The Festival of Arts scheduled a meeting Thursday to discuss the

residents’ concerns.

“I don’t know why the festival called the meeting,” McErlane said.

“The problem is the city’s. They are the ones who are supposed to keep

the peace. The fact is that the festival is a sacred cow in Laguna Beach

and complaints fall on deaf ears.”

A city ordinance limits decibel levels to 70 and in some cases the

city has prohibited sound escaping the site.

“The festival has spent $30,000 to improve its sound system and they

plan to spend another $110,000 to direct the sound down into the bowl,”

said Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman, a member of the city’s festival

negotiating team.

Residents suggest that Laguna Canyon acts as a natural amphitheater,

bouncing sound up the hills.

“My house is like living in the Hollywood Bowl,’ said George Corey, a

resident of High Drive. “I can hear every word spoken by the festival

announcer and the rock music shakes the pictures on the walls. We have

lived in our house for almost 40 years and we just figured the pageant is

part of Laguna, but now they are planning on expanding the use of the

bowl year round.”

Residents of Linden and Hills streets and High Drive claim the noise

from the festival grounds already destroys the tranquillity of their

neighborhood during the summer. They are opposed to expansion, fearing

its effect on their property values.

The council approved on April 9 an eight-week series of Sunday

afternoon classical music concerts, co-sponsored by the city, the

festival and Music in the Park Inc. Concerts would be held from 2 to 4

p.m., starting July 7, and would be free to Laguna Beach residents. The

festival will fund the concerts.

Residents who were promised they would be kept in the loop, were in

the dark about the Sunday concert series.

“We were told in the past that we would be involved in any decision to

expand the use of the bowl and the festival grounds,” McErlane said. “I

was not even aware of the Sunday afternoon concerts.”

Festival special events coordinator Susan Davies proposed the concert

series to the city’s Arts Commission, which recommended approval to the

City Council. Davies also told commissioners that the festival would

include a Jazz and wine tasting event at 7 p.m., Thursdays throughout the

summer.

“The festival feels it was here first and it can do what it wants to,”

High Drive resident Corey said. “Never once has anyone from the festival

come and thanked us for putting up with the noise or invited us to the

show.”

A Peter Paul and Mary concert in 1995 had the neighbors up in arms.

“I could feel the drum beat in my heart during the concert,”

complained Roger McErlane. “We hired a consultant who said the noise from

the grounds is louder than usually allowed and Laguna Beach is one of

only a few cities that would allow that decibel level.”

Concerned neighbors hired sound consultant Vince Mestre after the

Peter Paul and Mary concert. Mestre measured the decibels of a Village

People Concert held Oct. 31, 1995 and concluded that the noise level was

higher than the permitted limits for every other city in Orange County

and unincorporated areas, according to McErlane. The levels, according to

Mestre’s findings, exceeded those considered acceptable for residential

land use.

But neighbors have yet another gripe.

“I echo my neighbors concerns about noise from the bowl, but the

parking situation is horrible,’ said Nancy Berkhowser.

Neighbors said festival workers, artists, concessionaires and pageant

cast members use their streets as a parking lot.

They are often in high spirits when they return to pick up their

vehicles and are noisy, residents complain.

“We are retired now, so it’s not as bad as when we had to get up at 4

a.m.,” Corey said.

Some have asked the council to urge festival workers to park at ACT V,

a suggestion jumped on by Councilwoman Toni Iseman, a supporter of

perimeter parking.

“I just hope we can do something to get the mumbo jumbo off the

streets,” said Scott Wright.