Timber Axe Bar & Bowl

Timber Axe Bar & Bowl Flexible Stone Wall Tiles

The Falmouth Select Board approved an entertainment license on a trial basis only for Timber Axe Bar & Bowl on Town Hall Square. The license will be renewed in six months if the company’s proposed noise mitigation plan proves sufficient. But one neighbor says she will settle for nothing less than silence.

Timber opened in June, and shortly thereafter, neighbors started complaining about excessive noise. One tenant, Linda Tsimortos, who lives roughly 30 feet behind Timber, is particularly aggrieved. She appealed to bar staff, the police and then the select board to do something about the distressingly loud music.

Town staff then discovered Timber had been hosting musicians without an entertainment license. The bar stopped hosting live music, and co-owner Michael Mueller applied for the license on November 30.

The application asks for up to five amplified live musicians and dancing until 9:30 PM on Wednesdays, 9 PM on Thursdays and 11 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.

In mid-January, the select board encouraged Timber’s owners to invest in soundproofing. Timber staff hired a sound mitigation technician through New England Soundproofing, and the board reviewed the technician's proposal on Monday, February 13 .

Attorney Kevin P. Klauer II, who is representing Timber, said his client is willing to put up six freestanding acoustic panels at roughly seven feet and four feet wide in an L shape around the stage. New England Soundproofing reported that the panels will dull reverberation and decrease the sound escaping the building.

Board member Samuel H. Patterson was skeptical of the plan. He said, in his experience, nothing short of floor-to-ceiling sound absorption panels do the trick.

“I have some serious doubts that this will work,” he said.

Mr. Klauer said the panel setup would push the music toward the bar, in the middle of the building, and not toward an exterior wall, which would effectively address neighbor complaints.

Board member Edwin (Scott) P. Zylinski II suggested the board approve the license for a trial period to see if the panels will work.

Mr. Klauer said Timber management has done what the board asked them to do and invested significantly in soundproofing designs. The panels cost $1,000 each, Mr. Mueller said, and the total investment will be $6,000.

Mr. Zylinski asked how much money Timber made over the summer while it hosted live musicians without a license.

“You have to understand, we’re a new business,” Mr. Mueller said. He said the live entertainment was an effort to build a customer base. “Many nights, we lost money,” he said.

Audience member Dennis DiTullio asked what specific standard the board wanted Timber to meet and if that standard is measured in decibels. Mr. Zylinski said the board is responding to complaints from abutters.

“If everyone was all on board, we wouldn’t have concerns,” Mr. Zylinski said.

Neighbor Linda Tsimortos said the standard should be that the music cannot be heard outside the bar’s walls.

“We just need to settle this,” she said.

The board approved the license for a trial period of six months, as long as Timber management took it upon themselves to mitigate noise and make sure it cannot be heard outside the building.

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