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A hearing held Monday at Roundhouse Harley-Davidson, Route 764, will help determine whether amplified music at periodic Pennsylvania Roundhouse Rally events at the business can continue in the way it's been since 2019.
Three area residents testified they have concerns about the volume of the music, with a married couple who lives across a road from the business saying it interferes with their normal activities and another resident saying she can hear it clearly in her yard a mile away.
The hearing was conducted on an Allegheny Township petition to exempt the rallies from liquor code requirements that prohibit noise louder than normal conversation beyond the property line, so that regulation instead would be under the more liberal guidelines of the township noise ordinance.
The hearing examiner will consider the testimony and make a recommendation to a three-person Liquor Control Board, which must rule by July 5, said assistant LCB counsel Justin Blake.
The couple, who live about a quarter-mile away, can't have their windows open during concerts, said Debra Conner, who testified along with her husband, Lewis.
They had air conditioning installed so they can keep the windows closed, Debra said.
"It rattles our cupboards," she said.
They have actually gone away for the weekend to avoid having to hear it, she said, testifying that the volume tends to increase as the evenings go on.
Debra has complained to the township supervisors about it, "but we've been put off," she stated.
She doesn't seek to shut the rallies down.
"If they could just keep the decibel levels down," she said. "I'm just asking for respect for the neighbors."
The bands play indoors on a stage, said rally President Dave Burgmeier.
But the large garage doors are open, so the sound comes out freely, Debra Conner said.
The sounds of the concerts don't bother Lisa Spangler of Mill Road in Carson Valley, who lives at least a mile away, Spangler said.
But "on some occasions, I can tell you every word that the band is singing," she said.
"I can only imagine how people around here have to put up with the noise," Spangler said. "It definitely would be a little unbearable."
But she doesn't have a problem with the event in principle, either, she said.
"Everybody seems nice when you come down," she said. "If they could just turn it down a little."
There have been three noise complaints to the police connected with the property since 2015, said Police Chief Michael Robison.
He knows of two noise complaints since the rallies began in 2019, Burgmeier said.
The police are familiar with the township ordinance and are prepared to enforce it, the chief said.
The township ordinance allows for music at festivals and other events like the rallies until 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 10 p.m. other nights, said township solicitor Patrick Fanelli.
As far as he knows, there is no decibel limit on the sounds during those times when festival music is permitted, he said.
The liquor code permits noise up to 75 decibels beyond the property lines of licensed establishments from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, said LCB counsel Justin Blake. Otherwise, no sounds may be audible beyond the property line.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.