Two Setbacks for Pacific Amphitheatre : Law: A merger plan with rival Irvine Meadows falls through. A judge imposes noise-level restrictions at the Costa Mesa venue.

The Pacific Amphitheatre’s operators have been beaten on two fronts in their efforts to stave off noise restrictions and to eliminate profit-sapping competition with rival Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

An Orange County Superior Court judge imposed new noise limitations on the 18,765-capacity rock and pop concert facility on Tuesday, the same day that Pacific officials learned that they had lost their bid to acquire a controlling interest in their longtime competitor.

In the wake of a U.S. Justice Department suit filed last week to stop a merger between the two amphitheaters, the consortium of private investors who own Irvine Meadows accepted a rival offer that will keep it out of Pacific’s control. Robert Geddes, a minority shareholder in the 15,000-capacity Irvine facility, has teamed with Irving Azoff, a veteran record industry executive, to buy “a substantial interest” in Irvine Meadows. As a result, competition will continue. The deal is expected to put an end to the government’s antitrust action.

The Pacific Amphitheatre is owned by the East Coast-based Nederlander Organization, which had hoped by merging with Irvine Meadows to solve both problems. If the merger had gone through, Nederlander could have shunted louder acts to the more remote Irvine Meadows and offered the Pacific’s Costa Mesa neighbors softer pop shows.

At the same time, a merger would have ended fierce bidding wars for top pop and rock concert attractions that Pacific officials blamed for driving up the cost of business and for losses that they said totaled more than $2 million in 1989. According to documents filed in the Justice Department suit, combined revenues at the facilities are $13 million to $20 million annually. Each amphitheater has presented 35 to 55 concerts a year.

Under the new noise ruling, Superior Court Judge Richard J. Beacom ordered Pacific officials to keep sound levels within five decibels of the county’s sliding-scale noise ordinance. Noise from the amphitheater will not exceed 55 decibels for more than 30 minutes, nor be louder than 75 decibels at any time, the judge’s order states.

Because there was only one plaintiff in the noise complaint, Costa Mesa resident Laurie Lusk, noise levels will be measured from Lusk’s property.

Pacific attorney Deborah M. Nesset said that she would have to consult with Nederlander officials, but she did not rule out the possibility of an appeal of Tuesday’s decision.

Meanwhile, the entrance of music industry magnate Azoff as a new Irvine Meadows partner snuffs out the last chance for a merger with the Pacific Amphitheatre.

Azoff, former chairman of MCA’s Music Entertainment Group, joins Donald Koll, one of Orange County’s leading developers, and Robert Geddes in a new business troika that will control the amphitheater. In accepting a joint bid by Geddes and Azoff to acquire what a press release announcing the deal termed a “substantial interest” in Irvine Meadows, Koll, who had held a majority interest in Irvine Meadows, rejected a rival bid by the Pacific Amphitheatre’s owners to merge the two facilities.

The Justice Department stepped in last Thursday to block the proposal, filing an antitrust suit that contended joint operation would create an illegal monopoly in the Orange County concert market.

Paul Hegness, an attorney for Koll, said on Tuesday that the government’s antitrust filing played a part in determining the outcome as two suitors vied to strike a deal with Koll over Irvine Meadows.

Nederlander, in its bid, had teamed with Ogden Allied Services Corp., which operates arenas and entertainment concessions around the country. After that offer surfaced in March, Geddes and Azoff parried with a counterbid of their own.

The Justice Department action “really put us in the position where in order to go forward with the Nederlander transaction, we had to step up to a fight with the government,” Hegness said. “We felt it was a fight better avoided.”