Boom-boom club music keeping you awake at night? Noise crackdown coming, Fort Lauderdale says

FORT LAUDERDALE — You can’t sleep because the club down the street is playing boom-boom bass late into the night.

You call the city to complain. The noise police check it out, but tell you the place is in compliance with Fort Lauderdale’s long-standing noise law.

One reason why: The current noise law does not give a decibel limit for the low-frequency sounds — that thumping boom-boom bass loved by bars and loathed by the early-to-bed set.

But that’s about to change.

Fort Lauderdale is on the verge of updating its noise law to make it more relevant to modern times. Commissioners are expected to vote on new noise rules in the next few months.

Can’t happen fast enough for downtown resident Vinnie Del Basso, a native New Yorker who lives in a downtown condo on the eighth floor. His condo has hurricane-impact windows, but he says he can still hear the noise from a vibey nightspot down the block.

“It sounds like a disco party,” Del Basso says. “I just can’t sleep. It’s torture. Goes on for hours. It’s not fair for me to hear ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba-boom.”

The new rules, city officials say, should bring a little more peace and quiet to folks who live near entertainment districts located downtown and on the beach while preserving Fort Lauderdale’s reputation as a trendy place with a hopping bar scene.

Mayor Dean Trantalis expects the commission vote to come as soon as April.

“I’m hopeful the changes to the ordinance will bring some peace and quiet to neighborhoods who’ve been suffering for too long,” Trantalis said. “Each area of the city is unique and one size does not fit all for the entire city. In the entertainment district we’re going to expect a higher noise level. We’re going to achieve a consensus and a compromise that will suit both the residents and the business community.”

‘Everyone is nervous’

Some club owners are nervous about what’s coming and how they’ll adjust to the new rules, said Tim Petrillo, a developer/restaurateur serving on Fort Lauderdale’s noise control committee.

Right now, when code officers check out a noise complaint, they don’t measure the boom-boom bass coming from the bar, Petrillo said.

“What really bothers people is when that low-frequency bass is coming through their bedroom windows,” he said. “You can be within the legal limit on the high frequency but you’re still bothering people because the lower frequency is not measured. Everyone is nervous, but the city is doing a good job of making sure we don’t do this quickly. We’re talking to the experts and we’re listening to the community.”

‘You’re a bit loud tonight’

Fort Lauderdale is still working on the new noise law, incorporating recommendations from a noise control advisory committee and an outside consultant.

The new law won’t take effect until after getting the blessing of city commissioners.

Clubs that do run afoul of the new rules will get warnings before they get citations. Fort Lauderdale plans to hand out warnings for at least six months to get everyone used to the new noise law.

David Cardaci, owner of The Wilder, says he’s gotten noise complaints over the years, but that just comes with the territory when you own a downtown bar with apartment towers close by.

“A few times we’ll get calls from someone saying, ‘You’re a bit loud tonight,’” he said. “It’s a tough balance. You want an energizing environment for your guests but you also want to be a good neighbor.”

On some occasions, Cardaci says he is convinced the noise is not coming from his club, but another source.

“I’d say about 25% to 40% of the time I know it’s not coming from us,” Cardaci said. “The noise could be coming from someone’s car three blocks away. One time someone called on a Monday night to complain about the noise and we weren’t even open.”

Clubs outside the entertainment district are playing bass-y music too, says Commissioner John Herbst, who represents Coral Ridge and other neighborhoods in the northern part of the city.

“Some of these nightclubs are more dance music-oriented and we haven’t had a way to address these in the past,” he said.

Noise police on patrol

A popular bar on Oakland Park Boulevard right near the Coral Ridge neighborhood has gotten its share of noise complaints, Herbst said.

“The neighbors are dealing with music till 4 a.m. on a Monday,” Herbst said. “We send code out but we can’t do anything because they’re not violating the noise ordinance. They were in the past and got hit with a $15,000 fine.”

Some cities use decibel meters that don’t measure the pounding bass beat that keeps the bar scene popping.

Fort Lauderdale officials say their old decibel meters, purchased on Amazon, did measure low-frequency sounds, but not accurately.

Code enforcement officers are now using more accurate meters purchased within the past two years, said Porshia Garcia, deputy director of the city’s Development Services Department.

“The previous meters were inferior,” she said. “They were meters we were ordering from Amazon. When we upgraded we purchased the more accurate meters.”

Fort Lauderdale has also beefed up its code enforcement team by hiring three new code officers. The city has 28 code officers in all, and four of them are now on the night beat, Garcia said.

Some expect they might get more busy after the new noise law goes into effect.

The city’s Noise Control Advisory Committee recommended the city require entertainment venues to apply for an annual permit. Venues that repeatedly break the city’s noise law could have their permits revoked.

The nightclub or bar could stay open but would be forbidden from using a live DJ or acoustic sound, said Bill Brown, vice chair of the noise control committee.

“They could still play music but they’d have to stop playing bass,” Brown said. “It’s not meant to shut down businesses. It’s meant to get them to conform to the noise ordinance.”

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan