Mayor and village board seek balance between resident concerns, business music permits
WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — People were ready to sound off at Williamsville Village Hall Monday night during a public hearing about live outdoor music performances.
Some community members want noise limits for the village while restaurants and bars push to keep the music playing.
Restaurant Owner Dan Gagliardo told 2 On Your Side: “It brings a lot of traffic. There’s a lot of buzz. People are all coming out. They’re walking by. They’re talking. It’s so community driven – it’s a wonderful event.”
While Williamsville Village Mayor Christine Hunt emphasized: “We embrace Music on Main. it’s part of our identity as a village for the last 16 years. But we have to be able to provide a good atmosphere.”
It’s a balancing act for the village of Williamsville board as some residents have circulated petitions for a new sound ordinance to counter what they say is too much loud music. They were specifically seeking to hold decibel levels to 70 in residential areas and 75 in non-residential areas noting that some village residents may suffer from sensory auditory issues like autism, down syndrome, or brain injuries or even a sleeping infant.
The Mayor says she is sympathetic with a personal family connection but does suggest people can find options like noise cancelling headphones.
And as for monitoring sound levels and enforcement Hunt notes: “If we were to actually implement something like that in the village it would be very, very difficult to monitor. We don’t have our own police force. The Amherst Police Department [has] a presence here on Thursdays for Music on Main. But every time somebody thinks that a level of music is too high – they certainly don’t have the manpower to come and measure that.”
But for this particular hearing the specific topic is a quiet period in the village and business permits for amplified music with speakers only allowed between Thursday at 4:00 p.m. – (which covers Music on Main for Thursday evenings) – through Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.
Mayor Hunt added: “Other concerns that residents or businesses or anybody has will have to be addressed during the public participation portion of the meeting.”
The resident who started the petition did not want to go on camera. But that person also mentioned those “other concerns” like village street congestion, parking, crime, and issues of drunken behavior.
A Williamsville business manager did say there was some “rowdiness” for Music on Main last summer but he says establishments immediately added more security and new access rules.