Farmingdale's booming downtown bars, restaurants may have to keep the volume down as village looks to update noise ordinance

The more than two dozen restaurants and bars that line two blocks on Farmingdale’s booming Main Street draw crowds, and the attendant noise has become a problem the village wants to fix.

“It's a growing pain,” Mayor Ralph Ekstrand said recently, adding that 12 years ago the village didn’t have a wealth of restaurants and bars attracting people to venues with live music.

“We didn't have that but then again we also had, you know, 25 vacant stores,” he said. 

Complaints from residents in second-floor apartments above Main Street storefronts and from homes bordering the parking lots behind the commercial strip drove the proposed changes, officials said.

The proposed amendment to the code, posted on the village website, would require commercial establishments to get an annual permit from the village in order to play music indoors and outdoors. The existing code requires permits for outdoor music in the downtown district. After 9 p.m., any establishment wishing to play music would need to close its doors and windows. Ekstrand said one change being contemplated is a ban on any live music after 11 p.m. in a commercial establishment on weekends.

Eileen Schwartzman, 58, a pharmacy technician who can see the backs of several bars from her porch said, “We had to use … white noise machines” to block out the late-night music from a now-shuttered Main Street bar and restaurant. 

Truck driver Jose Martinez, 27, whose backyard is exposed to bar sounds, said he’s not bothered by the noise.

“We live next to the train station, so a little music is not that much of a problem,” Martinez said.

After a May 5 hearing where opinions were mixed, the proposal is still going through revisions, Ekstrand said. The village announced the hearing will continue on July 10. 

"It's obviously a balancing act between the people who live in Farmingdale and the people who do business in Farmingdale and the people who come here to enjoy Farmingdale," Chamber of Commerce president Joseph Garcia said.

Village code enforcement officers handle noise complaints before 10 p.m., but after that complaints go to Nassau County police, Ekstrand said. The village is considering measuring noise levels with a decibel meter. 

Penalties for noise violations would have a bigger bite. The proposed code would start fines at the current $250 but then double them to $500 for a second offense and increase them to up to $25,000 for a third offense. The top fine is likely to be reduced because it's "too much," Ekstrand said. The village is considering suspending permits for repeat offenders for 30 days, he said.

Garcia said fines should have a deterrent effect so they aren't simply a cost of doing business. 

"The ones that have always done a good job of keeping the noise to a reasonable level have some concerns about the businesses that don't do as good of a job," Garcia said.

Joe Fortuna, a co-owner of the bar and restaurants Nutty Irishman and 317 Main Street, said he’d like the cutoff time for live outdoor music on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays extended from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.

“Everyone in the summertime wants to be outside,” Fortuna said. “We have the bands outside and people could sit, they could dine outside … it's a nice combination.”

Fortuna said the Nutty Irishman wants to be a good neighbor but acknowledged that music can escape through the door late at night.

“On a Friday or Saturday night that back door is constantly opening and closing,” Fortuna said.