The workshop was a response to complaints that followed the Great North Music and Arts Festival in early September at Hemond’s Motorcross Park.

 

The selectmen meeting immediately after the event was attended by residents whose chief complaint, in addition to noise levels, was that the noise continued into the early hours of the morning.

 

Working with similar ordinances in effect in Mechanic Falls and Oxford, as well as a draft ordinance prepared by John Maloney of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, the selectmen focused on five matters that needed to be addressed:

 

• Determining the size of the gatherings that would fall under the jurisdiction of the ordinance;

 

• The length of time of the gathering;

 

• The hours during which the event would occur;

 

• The frequency of the mass gathering events; and

 

• The level of noise that would be deemed acceptable.

 

It was determined there would be two levels of mass gatherings to be addressed: those between 750 and 1,499 people and those of more than 1,500 people.

 

For a gathering to be covered by the ordinance, it would have to last for more than 12 hours, and mass gatherings would be limited to 72 hours.

 

In the case of musical events, from Sunday through Thursday nights, the music would have to cease at 10 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday nights, it would have to end by midnight. On all days of the week, there would be no music before 9 a.m.

 

 

Planning Board Chairwoman Candace Gilpatric stressed that numbers settled on Wednesday evening are draft and intended to give attendees at the Oct. 24 meeting an idea of the direction the ordinance was headed.