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One Request

In his recent letter to The Sound (“Taking Any and All,” Steps, Aug. 10), the Stony Creek Brewery’s owner accuses Turn It Down! of being “inaccurate and misinformed.” On the contrary, we work hard to be honest and truthful.

Last October, the brewery hosted a national rock band whose noise levels disrupted our lives and offended neighbors well over a mile away, resulting in more than thirty calls to the police and more than one hundred and twenty-five petition signatures to the first selectman. These are facts.

In July, a brewery concert was monitored by the Branford Police Department, using their own calibrated equipment, and two sets of readings showed multiple times when the music levels exceeded the limits set by the ordinance. More facts.

The brewery owner wants you to believe that these were random spikes caused by traffic, but he provides no evidence. His own sound expert’s report only shows readings early in the evening, before the main event got started. If he has contrary data showing they were in compliance, where is it?

For the recent August concert, Turn It Down! hired our own professional sound expert whose preliminary data paints a very clear picture. From 8 until 9:30 p.m., “no matter what metric (overall average or short-term noise level) is used, the performance exceeded the limit.” When the final report is given to us, we’ll be happy to share it with the brewery, the Town, and anyone else who’s interested. We have the facts on our side.

This dispute is simple: the brewery started out as a tasting room with live music that they promised would be no different than what we hear from Nellie’s. They’ve morphed into a concert venue hosting national rock bands whose music is blasted into the neighborhood.

We have only one request.

Turn It Down! Please!

John Hartwell

Branford