Renowned Melbourne venue The Bendigo Hotel will fight for its right to host live music in court this afternoon and tomorrow as a dispute between a resident and council has escalated into legal action.
A petition supporting the Collingwood venue has attracted almost 6,000 signatures today. Venue owner Guy Palermo told theMusic.com.au this morning that he believed the council will move to implement an injunction order in the Victorian Civil And Administrative Tribunal [VCAT] tomorrow that will prohibit live music until a further case in February next year.
With the fallout gathering momentum this afternoon, theMusic has been told by the Yarra City Council’s office that an 11th-hour meeting has been called with the venue and council to sit down at 5pm tonight and hopefully avoid court proceedings.
In a statement sent to theMusic.com.au this afternoon Yarra City Council Mayor Jackie Ristacky says, “Unfortunately, we have a situation where some bands at the Bendigo Hotel have been loud enough to draw complaints. The complaints (14 in total) have been made by a few different people over the course of the past 12 months.”
While initial reports suggested that the complaints came from a single individual, it is still believed that one resident in particular has been particularly vocal. The council’s actions are, however, in regards to noise limit restrictions, rather than residential complaints.
After receiving complaints the council sent compliance officers to the venue to carry out acoustic testing, as they are required to do, in April, June, July and October this year.
“The tests found that the noise was above the acceptable levels prescribed by the EPA – the SEPPN-2 levels that every pub or club with live music in Victoria has to comply with,” the Mayor said.
“This is not about who is making the complaints, it is about the fact our officers have identified the venue as being in breach of the EPA guidelines several times and requested the venue to introduce acoustic treatments to deal with the issue.
“Officers have been in regular contact with the hotel to achieve a solution but unfortunately one has not been reached. If the venue has taken measures to sound proof then it appears they haven’t worked.”
Ahead of tomorrow’s planned VCAT hearing the council has moved to organise a meeting “with the pub’s management tonight in an effort to negotiate a timeframe to get the sound proofing done without the need for the matter to be determined at VCAT. Council appreciates there can be significant costs to venues involved with acoustic treatments but we also have a responsibility to ensure those venues are making an effort to do the right thing by their neighbours.”
The Mayor added, “Yarra has some of the country’s best known live music venues. That’s something Council is proud of and does not take for granted. We appreciate the value of venues like the Bendigo giving bands a platform to develop. That’s why we established the Leaps and Bounds live music festival with local venues last year.”
She finished, “We’re hoping tonight’s meeting results in a fair way forward for everyone with an interest in this matter.
The documentation from the acoustic tests was unavailable to theMusic today as it forms part of the council’s VCAT evidence. An alleged dispute during the process of the October reading has brought the matter to boiling point, according to Palermo.
Today a statement from Music Victoria said, “Music Victoria has been in contact with both the operators of the Bendigo Hotel and Yarra Council reps over the last few weeks to try and seek a fair resolution to this issue of a lone new resident making noise complaints. With the continuing work by industry reps on the Government live music roundtable in regards to planning laws, Agent of Change amendments (which are needed more than ever), and our Best Practice Guide for venues (covers dispute resolution), we hope to have a happy outcome here for all parties.”
Palermo told theMusic that he plans to show that he’s been “proactive in trying to bring the noise down” and is frustrated that he has been unable to engage in mediation discussions with the disgruntled resident.
He said that he’s offered to “take over his lease and double glaze his windows” but is refusing to do any more work to the venue until a discussion to solve the issues is held.
In the coming weeks the venue is booked to host Chainsaw Hookers, Toe To Toe, Clagg and I Exist. Full details here.
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