The County Commissioners have changed the (surprise) arbitrary administrative decision on the part of the Land Use Department that donations given at a house party with a live band constitutes a "business" and hence is regulated - and not allowed - within unincorporated Boulder County.
The background to this issue is vintage Boulder County Land Use thinking, the kind of stifling and random, inconsistent application of otherwise worthy land use protection values that I've heard about anecdotally since moving here 20 years ago. Read "House Concerts - Temporary Stay of Enforcement" here. And all it took to get this ball rolling is one person to call to complain - and it turns out the County admits they can't identify who that complainant was who set this all into motion.
My rantings about the County's land use regs have been fueled by such anecdotes. You just have to keep an eye on 'em.
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Dan,
You may be surprised that there is at least one resident in town who regularly schedules "house concerts". This occurs in a normally quiet and peaceful typical residential family cul-de-sac. It used to be advertised on a web site but now can only be accessed using a proprietary password.
Fifty to one hundred party goers show up on a weekend night, chip in their donation, and party 'til wee hours of the night. The party goers trespass on the neighbors property, park in other's driveways, create quite a raucous, wake up the kids, and intimidate those in the houses surrounding the party house who request quiet and order.
The neighbors are afraid to complain for fear of retribution. So who are the victims here?
If the "fearful" neighbors were friendlier neighbors, they might be invited to the party.
But, if they're the uptight, politically correct types who require everyone else to be "perfect", like they erroneously believe themselves to be - well, I wouldn't want them at my party either.
Kerry - isn't there a laundry list of current regulations that could be brought to bear on such a scenario? At the very least a noise violation must be viable.
With concerts and gatherings ending by midnight and hosts being held accountable for the trash or some of the behavior of their guests I would tell the cul-de-sac dwellers (I'm one myself) that sometimes living in a neighborhood means you actually see and hear other people. And those people may actually have friends that visit. And they own cars. And that other humans are actually on the planet and you may have to endure their presence within a hundred yards once in a while.
Ward is popular for a reason with people who are honest enough to recognize they don't actually like being involved in the human race. The rest of us take the pros and cons of living in a community. I'm often amazed at the relative pin drop that sets people off. I have neighbors who hate another neighbor because of the sound of his motorcycle. Its a 20 second noise when he leaves. I've timed it. Can you expect quiet every second of the day?
A family with teenagers lives behind us and once or twice a year they party it up. It's not so often that its a problem. But if their friends were parking in our driveway or using our lawn as a party zone we would need to talk to the parents about was happening. Dok and Dan, are you saying strangers can make use of your driveways and yards? That is the scenario Kerry outlined.
It's interesting so see the comments.
These "house concerts" don't happen 100 yards away in this neighborhood. More like 30 or 40 feet. The neighbors aren't invited. One can argue it's because the "concert" giver doesn't want his neighbors to know what's really going on inside. To be truly neighborly, one would invite them.
The "concert" goes on until 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. in the morning. Attendees loiter outside. Local police have put the "concert" giver on notice. But the result has been the neighborhood is now fearful of retribution.
So whose property rights are being violated? Is the "concert" giver running a business? If parents of young children are fearful, isn't that a threat to their quality of life?
Would you want to live next door to the "concert" giver?
P.S.
"Can you expect quiet every second of the day?"
This is a neighborhood filled with young families and small children. The issue is can they expect quiet at night???
How can activities be happening until 4:00 AM that are also awful enough that retributio is feared and yet the police can't do anything? There's not that much keeping Lafayette PD busy at 4:00 AM is there?
Believe me, my property rights mantra would be all over anyone using, trashing, or just stepping on my yard that I didn't want there and I'm all in support of protecting that. Perhaps I'm envisioning too dramatic a scenario with screaming, peeling out and loud music and open windows than what Kerry means. I've been on both sides of such parties and the cops come when someone calls.
I've also seen people who call the cops because they know a party is going on simply because the number of cars in the neighborhood has tripled for several hours. A gathering of more than four people must mean trouble! Without any further provocation except figuring SOMETHING bad somewhere with somebody must be going on, they call the cops.
I want to see the police involved in tangible infractions, not mere intolerance of a neighbor's social activities. The County scenario I mentioned at the start of this thread involved indoor acoustic music jams. More disturbing or threatening gatherings of course deserve attnetion. But I see a lot of people just unable to tolerate activity in a dense neighborhood. The next BBQ visited by the police may be your own...
As is usually the case, extreme examples are used to suggesst taking personal property rights away.
I'm as protective of my personal property rights as the next guy. But, that means I have to respect others rights as well.
The change here was to allow people to charge to cover the cost of entertainment, as long as they're not making a profit.
There are existing laws intended to control noise and other disturbances in neighborhoods. Problem is enforcement, or inconsistent enforcement at best.
An upcoming analogy - fireworks. There are laws forbidding most fireworks in this area. Do people abide by the laws? No. Do the police enforce the law? Not often. But, I get just as irritated by the sound of fireworks late into the night on July 4 as I do loud parties.
Would tighter restictions on this work? Not likely if the local PDs don't enforce exsiting rules.
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