Kingborough Council will investigate noise complaints against the Salty Dog Hotel at Kingston Beach after receiving a petition from residents living near the popular live music venue.
Councillors voted unanimously on Monday night to accept the petition, which was signed by 43 residents. A staff report is expected in May.
The Salty Dog has also launched its own counter-petition, attracting close to 5,000 signatures in support of its live music program.
Councillor Aldo Antolli told the chamber it was important for the council to strike a balance between residents and the business.
“We don’t want to see a lawful, valuable business die on the vine because of this change that could be applied by council,” he said.
But Antolli also acknowledged the concerns of nearby residents, saying bass noise travelled through the air and penetrated homes in ways that were difficult to understand from the outside.
He said the venue’s owners had invested $4.7 million in the site and that early conversations with council staff had “spooked” management.
Council’s environment, development and community director told the meeting the Salty Dog’s permit contained no specific noise limits.
She said general legislative requirements around amenity and noise emissions still applied.
“Noise is a complex issue and it depends on a range of things in terms of duration, reasonableness of the potential impact, etc…” she said.
“A lot of things have to be considered under the guidelines and council will do that methodically and in consultation both with the owners of Salty Dog and the residents.”
Chief executive Dave Stewart said staff were seeking expert advice from the Hobart City Council, which has more experience managing live music venues.
He said the goal was to find an outcome that worked for both the venue and nearby residents.
“We want people to be able to enjoy living in their homes and not having sort of unreasonable levels of disruption to that,” he said.
“We want the venue to continue to be able to do their thing and we want our residents to be able to enjoy a great living environment.”
