HomeMy WebLinkAboutEvent Venue Comments - SheriffAugust 28, 2008
Bonnie Baker
From: Larry Blanton
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 1:17 PM
To: Bonnie Baker
Cc: Dave Kanner
Subject: FW: weddings.doc
Bonnie
Page 1 of 2
As requested here is some information we would like to have considered at this meeting. We will be happy to participate in this
discussion.
Larry
From: Tim Edwards
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 1:09 PM
To: Larry Blanton
Subject: weddings.doc
August 28, 2008
To: Anthony Raguine
From: Captain Tim Edwards
Re: Event Venues in MUA Zone
This letter is to inform you of the position of the Sheriff's Office
regarding the proposed text amendment to the Deschutes County Code
that would allow event venues as a conditional use on MUA zoned
property.
Let me start by saying that the Sheriff's Office has no desire to prevent
citizens from making a living or making use of their property
appropriately. We are not opposed to weddings per se, but are concerned
about keeping the peace and protecting the rights of all citizens in
Deschutes County.
The Sheriff's Office is not opposed to weddings, but to the noise and
traffic associated with those events. This past summer the Sheriff's Office
has been inundated with calls for service regarding noise and traffic
associated with these wedding venues. If the Commissioners approve this
text amendment and make it lawful for these weddings to take place, the
Sheriff's Office will continue to receive calls from the neighboring
residents about noise and traffic. By it's very nature a wedding reception
is a loud noisy celebration with lots of guests, alcohol consumption, and
music. There is no way to hold a quiet wedding outdoors. Even if the
amendment included noise restrictions it would still fall upon the Sheriff
to monitor noise levels and respond to complaints from neighbors.
Perhaps amplified music could be reduced to an acceptable level,
(although if you are the next door neighbor, what is an acceptable level)
9/4/2008
August 28, 2008 Page 2 of 2
but there is no way that you can control 100 or more guests, consuming
alcohol and celebrating. And if the noise is out of hand the Sheriff's
Office will not be the bad guy by shutting down a wedding, and ruining
what should be the happiest day of a young couple's life.
It is for these reasons that the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office is
strongly opposed to approval of the text amendment as written. Perhaps
there are locations where there are no neighbors in the vicinity that would
not be disturbed by the noise or traffic. We would recommend that those
locations could be permitted on a case by case basis.
If this amendment is approved as written the scarce resources
of the Sheriff's Office will be busy responding to noise and traffic
complaints every summer weekend, instead of performing the critical job
of public safety throughout the county. This is a critical workload issue
for the Sheriff's Office that will only become worse if this text
amendment is approved.
9/4/2008