BENNINGTON — Continued late-night noise from Camp Southern Vermont LLC, which operates on Southern Vermont College’s former campus, has caused a seemingly final resolution between the camp and the town of Bennington to crumble.
“Unfortunately, that particular stipulated agreement was violated even before it was signed by the judge,” Daniel Monks, assistant town manager, said at a select board meeting Monday evening.
Audio captured by a neighbor at 2 a.m. Sunday exhibits call-and-response chants amplified over what appears to be a professional sound system, followed by cheers from a large group.
The resident called Bennington police. According to Merrill Bent, an attorney with Woolmington, Campbell, Bent & Stasny who represents the town, noise persisted for most of Saturday night and Sunday morning.
The town has withdrawn its agreement, created last week. Officials also filed another motion for contempt and scheduled a hearing for July 30 in which the town will seek a preliminary injunction to stop the noise.
“We’ll have to see what the judge has to say, but we have witnesses prepared to testify,” Monks said. “Obviously, the best outcome would be simply for the operators to stop making noise that’s bothering neighbors, but we’re going to seek a court order regardless of what happens between now and the hearing.”
At Monday’s select board meeting, Assistant Town Manager Daniel Monks summarized the series of events that led to the town’s now-final decision to move legal action forward.
First, following noise that violated the town’s ordinance, town officials filed a temporary restraining order that barred amplified noise after 9 p.m., and scheduled a hearing for injunctive relief, scheduled for July 30. The order was violated when police received 14 noise complaints in the following 48 hours.
The town then filed a motion for contempt, which was scheduled for July 23, but the afternoon before the hearing, camp director Rabbi Moshe Perlstein met with town officials and told them he would move large camp gatherings into the former college’s gymnasium.
All agreed the proposed solution would likely dampen the noise and quell complaints. But as the first group of campers departed and a second group began its three-week session this weekend, the noise began again.
Rep. Jim Carroll, D-Bennington, expressed frustration at Monday’s board meeting, particularly that the noise has continued after midnight. He described an encounter with Perlstein in which he told Carroll he would prove the town wrong, and that the camp’s noise would cease.
“I said, ‘Mr. Perlstein, I hope you do prove us wrong,’” he said. “But the 1 o’clock in the morning violations of the ordinance are just not acceptable.”
Select board president Donald Campbell wrapped up the discussion at Monday’s meeting with assurances to residents that the town is working toward a solution.
“We’re just going to have to ask everybody to stand by,” he said. “We’re doing what we can legally, and still hoping that the camp will find a way to move the noise indoors to the gymnasium and not disrupt the neighborhood.”