Why it worked well, for so long

The legal framework

For decades, the use of our soundspace has been shaped by common-sense values, later codified by various provisions in the Zoning Code on decibels, outdoor amplifications structures and sensible regulations on permitted land use and occupations.

These provisions worked extremely well to protect the town’s fabled quality of life.

The current Noise Ordinance was added in 2018, in response to growing AirBnB noise, to permit a quicker enforcement by the Police Department in situations of distressing nuisance. It never was relevant to music venues, because they did not - never in five decades - broadcast powerfully amplified shows outdoors.

It worked so well

Thanks to this good framework, here is what we had and could take for granted:

  •  A community united around music, instead of painfully split.  Music was a source of common culture and pleasure, not discord.

  • Venues that everyone could enjoy and support, instead of fearing them.  Shared delight in those venues, such as the Maverick, that knew how to offer outdoors music without hurting their neighbors.

  • Fabled celebrations and music benefits to support all kinds of causes; and everyone agreed naturally to stage them indoors if they needed to be loud.

For decades, there had never been any need to single out specific noise exemptions for outdoor events, because sound invasive events were the rarest of occurrence.

When the Drum Circle, a non-profit communal gathering, sought a permanent presence on the Green, we took a long careful time to do it, aware of the impact of sound.

We did not give away the community’s airspace to private interests. Instead, we all gladly volunteered it – our public airspace and our private airspace - to entities that did not monetize them commercially:

  • Nonprofit community events like the Woodstock on the Green Concert series,  the annual Fireworks, Pop-up Art Shows, 5K races, the Woodstock Film Festival, Santa’s arrival, Menorah lighting, Woodstock Volunteer Day and so many, many other wonderful community events.

It worked. We got along. Let us not break this up recklessly.