Chelo’s cited for noise violation again

Posted 10/8/13

Less than a month after Chelo’s Waterfront was issued a noise violation and breached the stipulations the Board of Public Safety placed on its live entertainment license, the Warwick Police …

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Chelo’s cited for noise violation again

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Less than a month after Chelo’s Waterfront was issued a noise violation and breached the stipulations the Board of Public Safety placed on its live entertainment license, the Warwick Police Department cited the establishment again on Sept. 29.

According to a police report, Officer Jason Cooke took a decibel reading of 64.8 at 7:53 p.m., which is above the city noise ordinance.

The ordinance states that venues risk having their licenses revoked or modified if they violate the law by having entertainment above 60 decibels from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and above 50 decibels from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

Cooke wrote that, during the time he took the reading, the only distinguishable noise was emanating from Chelo’s. He then met with Lt. Michael Gilbert at Chelo’s and spoke with Brandon Chelo, the manager on duty. Cooke informed Chelo of the violation, and issued the citation.

The same weekend, police twice responded to The Shannon View Inn at 1901 Post Road for noise complaints made by residents on Richfield Street and Elkland Road, as a band performed behind the establishment. Owners were issued citations.

“It is the responsibility of police to respond to complaints and if the complaints have legal merit, then police will act upon it according to the legal process,” Warwick Police Col. Steven McCartney wrote in an e-mail. “That is exactly what the Warwick Police did.”

Cooke used an Extech Instrument meter at two homes, including one on Reeland Avenue, and another on Island View Drive. Jan Kovan, the Reeland Avenue homeowner, lives approximately 2,000 feet from Chelo’s and has testified at Board of Public Safety meetings.

She said she has reached out to the Chelos, and invited them to her home so they could experience what she hears. While she articulated this to the Warwick Beacon, she said she was misquoted in a recent article.

“The Chelos did come to my home in 2011 to hear the music just after they installed a new sound system – there just was no music playing,” she wrote in an e-mail. “The article stated they did not come to my home.”

In a letter to Lisa Ferolito, the secretary for the Board of Public Safety, Kovan further expressed her sentiments. She copied McCartney, City Council members and the mayor’s office, and requested that Ferolito forward the information to members of the Board of Public Safety.

Kovan also forwarded the information to a Beacon reporter last week.

“As taxpayers in residential neighborhoods of the city of Warwick, we have a rightful expectation of the reasonable use and enjoyment of our homes,” she wrote. “Neighbors of Chelo’s have been before the Board of Public Safety too many times over the past four years trying to resolve the noise issues that prevent us from enjoying our homes and outdoor spaces in a manner of our own choosing for four to five days a week, four to eight hours a day and for all or part of six months of the year.”

Kovan, along with Dr. Tariq Malik, who lives across from Chelo’s on Island View Drive, and other Cowesett residents, say they are becoming increasingly frustrated with the noise. Malik is a physician who teaches medicine at Brown University. He has a graduate degree in Public Health from Harvard, and says that the loud music is a health hazard for neighbors.

Now, it appears neighbors of The Shannon View Inn at Hillsgrove are experiencing similar issues.

The Board of Public Safety recently trimmed Chelo’s entertainment hours, ruling that bands and musicians end their sets one hour earlier on Friday and Saturday nights for the remainder of the season, which typically ends Columbus Day weekend. Chelo’s will again appear before the Board of Public Safety toward the end of the month or in November. An official date is yet to be set. They are also required to appear in Municipal Court Oct. 17.

Owners of The Shannon View Inn are to appear in court Nov. 21.

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