Tuesday City Commission meeting to determine Residents right to noise abatement versus County Club's desire to entertain.

There is a compromise. It is called an ordinance. The Bloomfield Hills Country Club may have an outdoor party with music of  an approved decibel volume between the hours of  7pm and 11pm on a Saturday night. The Bloomfield Hills Country Club is requesting that an exception be made for a June 1st wedding party which desires to play outdoor music until 1am.

The area selected for a yet to determined band is the club's east terrace which is the one closest residents on Rathmor road and  the two East and West Valley Roads.

Sound in the  City travels and the situation at the Country Club is made worse by its position atop a hill overlooking a large pond and houses which are literally  in a valley. The Pine Rdige subdivision directly adjacent to the Valley roads and the Club's golf course is even lower.

For this reason outdoor Bands at the Country Club have never been popular with residents living downhill.

There were a series of parties and complaints prior to to City Manager Cravens appointment. In recent years  for whatever reason the Country Club has been a quiet good neighbor. Now they are asking that an exception be made for the  June  1st event.

As stated there are a number of acoustic problems with the location In addition there are number of professionals in the area whose  job requires  late  work on Saturday night or going to work at dawn on Sunday. There are also residents who chose to reside in the City for peace quiet and whose wishes need to be respected.

Past efforts to of residents to be cooperative with noise have been met with even more excess. The most outrageous example involved a party  featuring front lawn motor bike races and a charity auction. A uniformed City public officer (hired presumably by the host)went door to door notifying the neighbors of the event and what to expect. That was the good news. Even better was that the motor bikes were no more noisy than a lawn mowers. The Charity auction did employ a loud speaker but was  for a good cause and concluded well before the 11pm ordinance deadline.. The bad news however followed with the arrival of an unannounced rock band which began blasting even though most all of the guests who attended the first two events had gone home.

Of  note is the fact the Country Club is not addressing or hearing the concerns of it's neighbors. Instead the Club writes the City Manager,  in order get an "exception" to the ordinance.

Is this  the one and only or the first of many ? It is both. Every month the City is asked to reconsider its ordinances in the face  perceived hardships. Having to end outdoor music at 11pm could be viewed as hardship. The point of an ordinances however is to make the City as livable and enjoyable as possible for all.
It has been asked on City Commission what is the point of having ordinances if nobody follows them.

It will be interesting to see what the City Commission decides. It will also be interesting to see what the voters decide this November when the City celebrates it's last City  Election for a good long time.








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