AirBnB owners bring noise complaint about Infusions bar to council
Published 8:04 pm Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Once again, owners of a downtown business have approached the Troy City Council with noise complaints about the bar located at 203 Love Street.
Jamie Taylor spoke to the council about his concerns with multiple noise violations at Infusions Cocktail Bar just down the street from The Station, an AirBnB rental property owned by Taylor and his wife Lindsay.
“We’ve had three of our last eight guests complain about noise,” Taylor told the council. “The last incident in march we called and complained and the officer wrote a citation, and then seven minutes later the noise started again.”
Taylor said he and his wife have been tracking the complaints against the bar for the past 14 months, when the bar was named Trojan Tavern. At that time, Allan Wood, owner of Kendall Hall downtown, spoke to the council about his concerns that the noise was becoming an issue downtown.
The bar subsequently closed temporarily, reopening as Infusions Cocktail Bar, although the ownership remains the same.
Taylor said he has had 27 specific instances of either bar being in violation of the city’s noise ordinance. After working with the Troy Police Department over the course of the last year, Taylor asked the council what they could do about the situation.
“It is the responsibility of the council to set the ordinances and the codes and then the department heads are to enforce them,” said Council President Marcus Paramore.
The portion of the city’s noise ordinance applicable to the situation is found in Sec. 14-7-b2 of the code of ordinances:
“It is hereby declared a nuisance and shall be unlawful to operate or play any radio, television, phonograph, musical instrument, or similar device which produces or reproduces sound, whether from a business or a residence, in such a manner as to be plainly audible at a distance of fifty (50) feet to any person in a commercial, residential, multi-family dwelling, or public place.”
Mayor Jason Reeves said for the first three offenses, payment of the $200 fine is all that is required, but fourth violations and onward must appear before a judge. Reeves said multiple citations have been issued against the bar of which two have been adjudicated, with one citation being found guilty and one citation that was decided not to be pursued for prosecution.
Discussing the pending cases in a public forum would be “inappropriate,” Reeves said.
However, Reeves did outline the process by which the license could be permanently revoked.
“I could temporarily suspend the license, but then I would have to come back to (the council) at the next meeting and it would be up to the council,” Reeves said. “But with these cases pending, I don’t have anything to bring you yet.”
Infusions owner Von Ewing was not present at the meeting and Councilman Robert Jones, District 1, said Ewing would need to have a chance to defend his business to the council before any decision would be made.
In other business, the council approved the creation of an improvement district for the Hutton project that it approved at its last meeting. The creation of the district will allow for the collection of one cent on every dollar to fund the payment of bonds taken out for the capital investment. Reeves said this process is customary for Hutton projects and protects the city from having the responsibility of the debt.