Stowe Cider is being allowed to resume live outdoor concerts in its garden, but with conditions.
The Stowe Development Review Board’s decision late in the summer leaves Stowe Cider’s owner, Mark Ray, little time to offer the live music he had hoped would help his business survive the pandemic by drawing more customers during the warmer weather.
The board is restricting outdoor concerts in the garden facing the mountain to no later than 8 p.m. on Thursdays and Sundays and 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The concerts may run from May 15 to Oct. 31, but the decision won’t take effect until Oct. 1, giving Stowe Cider just one month to offer live music in its garden. No more than 15 concerts can use amplified music, and concerts on Thursdays and Sundays must be acoustic only.
The board approved the concerts with restrictions by a 4-3 vote.
The approval is good only for this year and any renewal is subject to review of how Stowe Cider adhered to parking requirements and noise limits.
In addition, Stowe Cider must hire an audio professional to record noise levels both in its garden and in nearby areas where some residents who complained about noise levels live and work.
Noise levels may not exceed 85 decibels at the Stowe Cider property line. For context, 85 decibels is the noise level of street traffic heard from inside a vehicle or gas-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says sound at that level can cause damage to hearing after two hours of exposure.
The board is also restricting Stowe Cider to no more than 100 people in attendance at the live music events.
In June, the board initially approved live music in Stowe Cider’s garden facing the mountain, but suspended the permit when David Gellis, who lives 2 miles away, asked for reconsideration because of the noise.
“We all feel it was a fair compromise,” Gellis said of the board’s decision.
At a hearing in July, the board promised a quick decision. Instead, it took the maximum 45 days allowed to notify Ray of the decision.
None of the board members responded to emails and telephone calls asking why they took so long.
Ray said by the time he can implement the conditions required by the board, Stowe Cider will have missed a lot of the peak foliage season.
“October is too hard to plan for” at this point, Ray said. “We lost out on a summer’s worth of revenue for these events. We live in a tourist town with businesses trying to survive.”
