There may be some uninvited guests at the Key West Business Guild's Headdress Ball Tuesday night at the Bourbon Street Pub's party patio Tuesday night-- the cops. Organizers of the event failed to apply for a special permit to waive the provisions of the City's stringent noise control ordinance.
Guild President Kent Henry said yesterday that he was told in a meeting with the Assistant City Manager, the City Attorney and a Code Enforcement official that they would not need a waiver if the event is over by 11 p.m.
"We restructured the whole party to comply," he said.
But City Attorney Bob Tischenkel said that no such information came out of that meeting.
"Any loud event is likely to violate the noise ordinance," he said. "Getting a waiver protects the event from citations by the police or Code Enforcement.
"My interpretation of the noise ordinance is that it is in effect all day and all night," Tischenkel said.
Police Chief Buz Dillon said his oficers will enforce the law. "If there is a complaint, we will respond and take appropriate action," he said.
And it is likely that there will be complaints. Neighbors in the residential compound next door are hopping mad.
"The City Commissioners have already told Joey Schroeder, the owner of that complex, in no uncertain terms, that he must get their permission and the permission of the neighbors before scheduling this kind of noisy event," said Mary Powell, a longtime resident of the compound and an employee of Key West The Newspaper. "But neither he nor the Business Guild has done that."
According to the law, amplified sound that crosses property lines and "interferes with the peace, comfort or enjoyment of persons residing in a dwelling unit or a residence or persons located at a receiving property" violates the law.
"Last year, the noise from this event rattled our windows for hours," Powell said.
"They initially applied for a noise waiver this year," said Maria Ratcliff, City Manager Julio Avael's secretary. "Then, for some reason, they withdrew their request. Right now, that event does not have a permit."
Last year, City officials did grant a noise waiver for the Headdress Ball at the still-under-construction party patio. But red-faced officials later learned that, when the permit had been issued, the City Building Dept. had not even signed off on final inspections of the project.
The venue has been controversial since that time.
Last December, City Code Enforcement Director Tom Forbes accused Schroeder of "misrepresenting the material facts" in his application for a building permit for the patio complex.
The building permit had been issued in July of 1998 for the renovation of existing guest rooms at the New Orleans Guest House, behind the Bourbon Street Pub; construction of a laundry and storage room, the addition of a cooler, the conversion of an existing jacuzzi gazebo for use as a service bar and to add a small wooden deck.
"We approved this conversion as an `accessory use' for the guest rooms," Forbes said. "But in reality, this conversion has been done to expand the Bourbon Street Pub, located at the same address.
"This is illegal without approval by the Board of Adjustment."
At that time, Forbes threatened to pull Schroeder's building permit.
Schroeder countered by hiring Attorney Michael Halpern. Lynn Kephart, the owner of the property, hired Attorney Jim Hendrick. Halpern threatened to sue the City if Schroeder were not allowed to use the new venue as an expansion of his bar.
Ironically, Hendrick has been a leader in the anti-noise movement here for years. He has been the author or co-author of several generations of City noise control ordinances.
In 1994, while working for the passage of the most recent noise control ordinance, Hendrick often invoked the name of his son, Alex, then 9 years old. He said Alex was often awakened in the middle of the night by noise from a bar several blocks away.
Alex is now about 12, the same age as Cayla, a young girl who lives with her parents in the residential compound next door to Schroeder's new party complex.
In 1995 and 1996, representing Big Ruby's Guest House, a neighbor of the Appelrouth Grille, Hendrick sued the bar under the state nuisance statute and closed it down. He predicted that the case would set a precedent to help residents close down bars that generate excessive noise.
Hendrick has admitted that he has advised both Schroeder and Kephart that they could have a difficult time winning a nuisance lawsuit if the noise from the party patio crosses property lines.
Last year, then-City Commissioner Jimmy Weekley also expressed concern for the residents of the compound next door to the party patio.
"I have urged City Attorney Tischenkel and Mr. Forbes not to back off and to do whatever it takes to protect the peace and tranquility of the neighbors," he said last December.
But Schroeder was one of Weekley's strong supporters in his successful run for mayor.
"It will be interesting to see whose interests Weekley will be fighting for now," said one longtime City Hall watcher.