Mirabella at ASU (Image courtesy of Pacific Retirement Services)
After seven months of seeking a resolution over a local music venue’s “unnecessary and excessive noise,” an Arizona life plan community is seeking a court order to turn down the volume and allow its residents normal sleep patterns.
Mirabella at ASU has asked the Maricopa County Superior Court for an injunction to prohibit Shady Park from emitting noise that exceeds the city of Tempe’s community standard. Their own research showed volume hitting above permissible limits more than 150 times over one weekend.
The legal action comes after multiple “good faith” efforts by the nonprofit life plan community on the Arizona State University campus to mitigate the issue and find a resolution, according to a website documenting the efforts. The community contends that “one business owner’s refusal” to adhere to noise standards threatens its vision of offering an inclusive community with intergenerational connections.
Friday, the court ruled against granting a temporary restraining order forcing Shady Park to stop hosting live music while the lawsuit moves forward. The case is scheduled to be heard in February.
In social media posts this summer, Shady Park didn’t name Mirabella at ASU but accused residents of a “new, luxury high rise building” across from the venue of mounting a “coordinated, aggressive campaign” to shut down live music at the venue. The 20-story senior living community has 239 independent living apartments and 59 assisted living, memory care or skilled nursing units. In recent social media posts, Shady Park invited supporters to contribute to its legal defense fund.
Shady Park said it had been operating since 2015 and was working with the city to find a long-term solution, according to the Phoenix New Times. Mirabella at ASU opened to resident move-ins in December 2020, when Shady Park and other businesses were shuttered due to COVID-19 restrictions.
A Mirabella spokesman shared a statement with McKnight’s Senior Living stating that it is not trying to close Shady Park “or even prevent music from occurring there.”
“We simply are requesting that Shady Park keep the music emanating from its concerts at a lawful level,” the statement reads. “As previously noted, our offers to provide technical, structural and financial assistance to Shady Park to achieve just this have been ignored, and Shady Park’s owner has refused to speak with us to resolve this outside of the court system.
“Nonetheless, our hand remains extended to Shady Park’s owner to come to a resolution that is respectful of all in the community of which Mirabella residents are also very much a part.”
A July Instagram post from Shady Park indicated that the owners installed a wooden canopy over the outdoor venue to try to help reduce sound. “We sincerely hope this will make our neighbors happy,” the post reads.
Mirabella went as far as hiring professional sound engineers to capture sound recordings and conduct analysis coming from the venue between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. The findings:
- Over three consecutive weekends, Shady Park exceeded Tempe’s community noise standard 159 separate times.
- Mirabella’s northern façade experienced up to a 7-dB(A) increase in noise level, and a 15-dB(A) increase in low-frequency noise (bass-range tones) during Shady Park operations.
- Vibration levels nearly doubled during Shady Park performances, with music bass reaching “nuisance levels” and causing wall hangings or windows to rattle.
Mirabella contends that some residents living in apartments facing the venue suffer from sleep deprivation, stress, irritability, anxiety, headaches and other emotional harm. The community also indicated that it has spent more than $1 million upgrading its windows to mitigate sound.
“We continue to hope to find a solution that works for all parties and remain open to any solution that allows Shady Park to continue operating without disrupting Mirabella residents with excessive noise,” Mirabella Executive Director Tom Dorough said.
