Judge Says Pacific Amphitheatre Making Sound Progress in Cutting Concert Noise

A Superior Court judge said Friday that the loud music at the Pacific Amphitheatre, which lures rock ‘n’ roll fans and infuriates neighbors, continues to exceed recommended noise levels but that the facility has made significant progress in easing the problem.

Friday’s remarks by Judge Richard J. Beacom followed the latest conference with attorneys for the 18,500-seat bowl in Costa Mesa and noise-weary neighbors, who have been slugging it out in court for six years.

While the judge was in his chambers with lawyers, several people who live near the bowl complained that the noise is still a problem.

“Some concerts are quieter, but most still violate the correct levels,” said Russell Millar, who lives 800 feet from the stage and is president of Concerned Citizens of Costa Mesa Inc. “When you can hear it inside your home with the windows closed, it’s too loud.”

Beacom has ordered lawyers not to discuss the case with the news media, but he agreed to summarize the closed-door meeting for reporters.

The judge acknowledged that the latest round of noise-monitoring shows that 11 of the 12 concerts held between Aug. 3 and Oct. 18 exceeded the levels specified by an earlier court order. But he said they are still lower than noise levels recorded during last year’s concert season.

“I feel we’ve made a lot of progress in this respect,” Beacom said.

Earlier this year, the amphitheater installed new sound equipment designed to contain the noise, but most artists initially refused to use it, Beacom said. Recently, the trend has shifted and most performers use the new system, resulting in a lower noise level, Beacom said.

“Use of the house equipment has reduced noise levels in the community and at the same time has not diminished the quality of the performances,” he said.

Beacom said he believes bowl operators are “making too much progress” in solving noise, traffic and parking problems for him to consider resuming the trial, which was suspended in July, 1988, to give amphitheater officials time to make improvements.

The owners and operators of the amphitheater renewed their offer to settle the case Friday, but they proposed no specifics, Beacom said.

Plaintiff Laurie Lusk said the defendants “offered to buy me off” by paying an unspecified sum of money and abiding by a contract to keep the noise under control. She said that another hearing is set for Nov. 22 but that she is less interested in money than in quiet for all the neighbors.

“I kind of think we won’t accept (a settlement) unless we get noise reduction and some punitive damages for the six or seven years this has taken out of everybody’s lives,” she said.

Millar lamented the dispute, recalling the day when the $11-million amphitheater was only a good-sounding idea.

“When it was first proposed, they told us it would be an amphitheater for chamber music and Shakespearean plays,” Millar said. “We thought it was a great idea. But we’ve never heard either one in there.”