Happy Daze owner builds sound proof wall

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When tenants of a neighboring apartment building publicly complained about noise coming out of Happy Daze pub last month, owner Scott Reed listened.

“After the first noise complaint, I went around out back on a Friday night, and yeah, it was pretty loud,” Reed said.

He was willing to make a change, but fixing the problem was slightly complicated. Because of a pending lawsuit, he isn’t supposed to build anything in the alley at this point. The lawsuit surrounds the right-of-way next to his building, in which he bought from the village and now owns.

“I wanted to get people off of Main Street; I didn’t want people smoking on Main Street,” he said. So he built an outside patio area intended for smoking, but which has been the source of further noise. With people outside talking loudly and an open door emitting the sounds of bands and music, Reeds neighbors told village government they weren’t sleeping.

Reed decided, despite current litigation, to hire contractors to build a sound-blocking wall in the alleyway, which will block noise from reaching the complainants’ apartments.

“I don’t want to upset the neighbors—I’m trying to work with everyone,” he said.

He’s also taken several other steps to fix the issue. He hired a sound engineer to help figure out where to place bands; they will now play in the space on the west side of the main pub.

He said he and the sound ran a test with a band playing in that room last weekend, and he couldn’t hear anything from the alleyway near the apartment building.

“It may not get rid of all the noise, but it’ll get rid of most of it,” Reed said.

Calls made to Dennis Whitney, who had lodged complaints, for comment were not returned as of Wednesday morning.