Luxury condo plans to install industrial noise meter to document loud midtown bars

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    NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) — The Nashville condominium complex Adelicia is taking loud noise complaints of bars on Division Street in their own hands.

Even while the pandemic continues, the HOA said they are making plans now to combat noise violations coming from bars.

Their plan: to install an industrial noise meter on the building to monitor the levels and document it with police when it goes above the legal limit.

“We’re talking about one bar, we’re talking about Rebar,” said Bruce Gallo, the HOA President at the Adelicia.

Gallo said their goal is not to have any of the bars shut down.

“I want to be very, very clear about that. We are totally in support of all the businesses and all the bars here. We’re talking about a particular situation of excessive noise,” he said.

But the plan sent out in a letter to residents also includes letting residents check out noise monitors from the front desk to check for excessive noise as well as having security guards check the levels as they do their nightly rounds.

“The sound is so bad that it actually rattles the windows of the units on the north side and residents here would tolerate a lot of reasonable conduct and behavior, but we’re talking about some of these egregious noise violations occurring after 11 o’clock and up to 3 o’clock in the morning,” said Gallo.

“And that’s why I was confused because they said they had been being disturbed, that we were open ‘til 3 a.m., but we haven’t been open past 10. And then we were closed for months,” said Rebar owner Rhonda Russell, as she addressed the letter with News4.

Russell was surprised when she saw a copy of the letter because it’s something she said has happened before with her business.

She explained, “I guess it’s been about three years [we went] to Adelicia and spoke to them, hired a sound guy, and talked to the manager at the time. We went up to the residents apartments or condos, and it was perfect.”

The excessive noise provision in Metro Code essentially says that sound amplification equipment should not create sounds that are plainly audible from the boundary line of the nearest residentially occupied property or produce sounds more then 85 decibels.

“We already dealt with the decibels and so forth awhile back. And we complied, we had our system to where the decibel is I think to 83 or 82, and it can’t go beyond that,” said Russell.

While she feels like Rebar is being targeted, “they’re being coerced. I believe they’re, I mean they’re trying to get people to complain,” she also admits that they have had noise complaints in the past that included citations.

News4 asked Russell what her message to Adelicia would be.

“I would love for us all to get together, maybe all the bar owners and the Adelicia, and try to work something out,” she said. “That’s doable for all of us.”

We asked Gallo if he’d be willing to meet and try to talk about a solution.

“Of course, absolutely, 100 percent,” he said.

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