Martha Clara Neighbor Said New Noise Complaint Went Unheard

While scores enjoyed an Oktoberfest at Martha Clara Vineyards on Sound Avenue in Riverhead over the weekend, at least one resident was left seeing red.

Mattituck resident Kathleen Chamberlain, who said she lives a mile and a half from the winery, was incensed when she first called to complain about "excessive noise" during the All for the East End benefit concert held at Martha Clara in August.

This weekend, Chamberlain said she was disturbed for the second time in a month by noise from Martha Clara.

"Once again, Martha Clara is holding an event, Oktoberfest, and I am again being disturbed by the loud music they are playing. I live almost one and a half miles from Martha Clara and they should not be playing music loud enough that I am having my enjoyment of yet another beautiful afternoon disturbed by their loud music," she wrote.

Chamberlain said she called Riverhead Town police, who said it was a town issue, and to contact the town supervisor. 

Riverhead police said Monday that they'd had no calls about noise complaints involving Martha Clara and that they had no report from Chamberlain. After the AFTEE event, police said because Martha Clara had all the necessary permits, there was nothing that they could do.

"I specifically asked if he would send someone out to the event and ask them to turn down the noise and he outright refused to send anyone out," Chamberlain wrote in an email. "He claimed as they had a permit for the event and that anything they did at the event was legal and keep telling me to complain to the town and the supervisor about the noise."

Chamberlain then alleged that Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter "ignored" her complaints.

"So its the police's job but they refuse to do it and the supervisor ignores the issue. Where does that leave me?" she asked.

Walter commented on the situation Monday. "Unfortunately, agri-tourism is one of the ways that farms stay profitable and in business. With the beauty of the farms, there is an inherent burden to residents. That burden is sometimes seeing increased traffic or noise."

Walter said it is critical to maintain "a balance. We do our best to do that," he said. 

He added that every event has to adhere to the town's noise ordinance code and "shut down" the music by 10 p.m, just as was done at the AFTEE concert and "every other venue."

Walter said he believes he'd seen a letter from Chamberlain, but the only way to avoid noise altogether would be for the town board not to grant permits for such events.

"And that would be problematic, too," Walter said.

He added, "We have about another month of this, through October, and then it will quiet down."

In an email, a code enforcement official wrote to Chamberlain, stating that noise complaints that take place in the evenings or on the weekends are handled by the Riverhead Police Department, and that a police officer would answer the call and send someone out to investigate the situation. 

The email also stated that Chamberlain's complaint was received by code enforcement after the AFTEE event.

Chamberlain has requested that the office of code enforcement inform the police about their responsibility to investigate these issues and that training be conducted on the policy as there seems to have been some " misunderstanding" about the police department's responsibilities.

"Either the police didn't know the policy or they were refusing to enforce the policy. I fully believe that once it is known someone will be held accountable for either addressing or ignoring complaints, at least this part of the issue will resolve itself," Chamberlain wrote.

The police have said that because the event has the proper permits and adhered to the town's noise ordinance code, there was nothing they could do.

A call to Martha Clara for comment was not immediately returned.