They Can Hear You Now

Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park in Alpharetta, Ga., made a lot of noise when it opened two years ago. Now, some neighbors are complaining about it being too noisy.

An Oct. 3 concert with Shinedown, Sevendust and Bullet For My Valentine drew 39 complaints from residents in Alpharetta and nearby Roswell. As it turns out, that concert generated more than half the total 62 complaints received all season, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Noise complaints are pretty much a hazard of doing business for any shed, but it gets complicated when the complaining comes from a local city councilman.

Alpharetta Councilman D.C. Aiken explained at a recent meeting that he loves music. “But at 11:30 on a Sunday night, my windows rattling, and I’m thinking of my neighbors across the street with kids,” the paper, noting he lives three miles from the shed, quoted Aiken saying.

Verizon Wireless GM Trevor Ralph didn’t return a message at press time, but told the Journal-Constitution “We take it very seriously. Our place in the community is very important to us.”

Ralph added that the amphitheatre keeps police on site for concerts and, when complaints roll in, the officer notifies him and his staff tests sound levels at property lines.

The volume was turned off on the lawn during the Oct. 3 concert, Ralph said, but the complaints continued. The bands reportedly declined to shorten their sets when asked.

Alpharetta Assistant City Manager Jams Drinkard told the Journal-Constitution he is working with the venue on the sound issues. More sophisticated sound equipment is being installed that will “enable the amphitheatre to record sound levels throughout a concert, then check the readings against the times noise complaints are received,” according to the paper.

“The equipment will be able to read across the spectrum, including sounds outside a human’s hearing range.”