Costa Mesa Noise Feud Ends Quietly

A long-running noise dispute over the Pacific Amphitheatre has been settled, relieving two Costa Mesa families of the $51,672 in legal fees they had been ordered to pay in exchange for their agreement to drop their appeal in the case.

As part of the settlement, the city of Costa Mesa agreed to monitor the sound during events held at the amphitheater for the next 23 years in an attempt to enforce Orange County’s noise ordinance. According to Newport Beach attorney Richard L. Spix, who represents Costa Mesa homeowners Jeanne Brown and Laurie Lusk, the monitoring will be paid for by a $100,000 fund to be established by the Nederlander Organization, former owner of the venue.

The board of the Orange County Fair and Exposition bought the amphitheater from Nederlander, only to discover noise restrictions written into the contract that the board said would render the amphitheater useless.

Amphitheater neighbors Brown and Lusk, who had once opposed Nederlander, joined the suit against the fair in an attempt to keep the noise restrictions in place. But Nederlander settled the case while the jury was deliberating.

When Brown and Lusk refused to settle their part of the suit, they lost and were ordered to pay $45,872 in attorneys fees, plus $5,800 in court costs.

Spix said his clients would drop their appeal against the fair Tuesday morning; the fair has agreed that in exchange for the appeal being dropped, it would waive the legal and court fees.

No events have been held at the Pacific Amphitheatre since summer 1995.

Brown, who has lived in the area since 1973, has been battling the amphitheater since it opened 17 years ago.

She said the settlement was a relief. When there were concerts, “you could feel the bass in your chair. The walls of your house would shake,” Brown said. “It started in the afternoon when they did their practice.”