DEERFIELD — After residents filed complaints and voiced frustrations regarding noise from Tree House Brewing Co.’s summer concerts, the brewery will have new rules to follow when the next concert season begins.
Assistant Town Administrator Greg Snedeker said the town received 49 noise complaints over the course of Tree House’s Summer Stage concert series this year. After hearing from residents, the Selectboard approved the business’ entertainment license last week with several conditions.
Adding to the existing special permit condition that all outdoor concerts must end by 10:30 p.m., the brewery must now conclude its September outdoor concerts by 10 p.m.
The Selectboard’s original draft of the conditions proposed a 9:30 p.m. cap. However, Sarah Morin, chief growth officer at Tree House, pushed back on this time, claiming that narrowing the window for concerts would draw away “more desirable acts” that only play with openers, lead Tree House to close its taproom earlier in the night and cut the concert time for attendees who arrive late due to obstacles like weather.
“It’s just the domino effect,” Morin explained.
Selectboard Chair Trevor McDaniel stressed that loud music is “really tough in that first section” of the school year.
“My ask is, just meet in the middle,” Morin replied, suggesting a 10 p.m. compromise. Morin added that the 9:30 cap would close off “certain opportunities I think the community would benefit from.”
The condition specifies that Tree House must submit evidence that its contract with performers reflects the 10 p.m. cap.
“I basically want to make sure that the bands are aware that we’ve had sound, noise issues that we’re trying to mitigate,” Selectboard member Tim Hilchey told Morin.
The brewery will also not be allowed to host concerts on Aug. 26 and Aug. 27, the first days of school for Frontier Regional School students. Morin described the condition as “completely understandable and manageable,” labeling the two days as “blackout dates” for booking.
The brewery must also host no more than two concerts per week in September.
Selectboard member Blake Gilmore brought up school days in June, a time when students are often wrapping up final exams and projects, he said.
“We still have kids in school during that time period as well. I mean, are we still going to take into consideration a time element for that?” Gilmore asked over Zoom. He proposed applying the September concert conditions to June school days.
“I didn’t think it was as impactful as that shock of the end of summer and giving up on your freedom and going back to the regime of school and parents stressed about getting everybody ready,” McDaniel responded, noting that the last day of school depends on snow days, making the end of the school year difficult to predict.
Gilmore asked about the number of concerts on the horizon in the summer, and Morin said it was too early in the year to predict.
“It is our desire and need to have a robust slate in order to support a program. Our business plan is not just to hold a few events — we’re trying to make this a part, an important part, of music in this region, and there really is a void,” Morin said.
Snedeker informed the Selectboard that the venue held six concerts in June, 12 in July, nine in August and four in September. Town Administrator Christopher Dunne reminded the Selectboard that Tree House’s special permit limits the number of concerts to 100 per season.
The Selectboard agreed to revisit Gilmore’s proposal for concert caps at the end of the school year next year.
“One of the things that I was interested in getting Tree House’s agreement on is concert adjustments. If there’s going to be a concert on a school night, there should be some adjustment, and we managed to do that at the end of the season,” Hilchey said. “I’m optimistic in how business has gone that they’re going to work with the town, and Tree House has done that maybe less successfully than people would like. This is a major change in how they’ve been willing to cooperate with us, so let’s go with this and then see how it goes.”
To follow other conditions in the entertainment license, Tree House’s sound engineer or production manager must “make all reasonable efforts” to follow the World Health Organization’s “Global standard for safe listening venues & events,” which recommends a 100-decibel sound level limit. According to MDHearing, hand dryers and motorcycles roar at 100 decibels.
The entertainment license also requires Tree House’s public address (PA) system company, Klondike Sound LLC, to conduct a sound study “to determine effective means of mitigating low-frequency sound waves (propagation) during outdoor concerts” and report the findings to the Selectboard before the 2027 concert season. According to Snedeker, who worked as a sound engineer for 30 years and will work with Klondike throughout the study, the process will involve adjusting the positioning of the subwoofer speakers to reduce the intensity of low-frequency sound waves, or the booming bass reverberations residents described in noise complaints.
Morin said Klondike already stopped by Tree House to get the study started.
“We are investing further resources to not just set it and forget it,” Morin said, adding that brewery staff will “continue to make our best efforts.”
Deerfield resident Matt Tuttle requested that more specifics be included in the sound study condition, including a stipulation that the stage must face the least populated area of town.
“In the past, and from Sarah herself, we’ve been told that things would happen regarding concert frequency, and Tree House has gone back on that,” Tuttle said.
In response, McDaniel replied, “I wouldn’t want to specify anything in particular, because this is going to be a work in progress as we’re adjusting.”
“We intend to be the best neighbors we possibly can be. We want to be as reasonable as possible and we do value the residents of this town,” Morin said. “We’re making a change, I’ve analyzed it quite extensively, and Tree House is committed to [making] those changes and adjustments and [investing] some more resources for that.”
The entertainment license also stipulates that events with more than 600 attendees “shall be contingent upon execution of an Event/Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)” approved by Police Chief John Paciorek Jr., Fire Chief William J. Swasey, South County EMS Chief Joshua Sparks, a Deerfield Board of Health agent and Building Commissioner Bob Walden. The plan must be approved at least 120 days before the first outdoor concert.