NESHANNOCK Supervisors allow concerts to go on

The owner presented the supervisors with a petition of 815 signatures of people in favor of the outdoor music.
NESHANNOCK, Pa. -- Outdoor entertainment will continue at the Coffee Grinder Cafe here.
Neshannock Township supervisors granted a conditional use permit for the concerts after a public hearing Monday night.
Sandy and Dan Troxell, owners of the Coffee Grinder, have received scrutiny over the outdoor events at their coffee shop Friday and Saturday evenings during the summer, when jazz bands play.
Atty. Richard Harper, township solicitor, told the 35 to 40 people attending that the purpose for the meeting was not to determine whether they liked or disliked the entertainment, but to prove the applicants have met or not met the conditional use ordinance.
Sandy Troxell presented her testimony supporting the requirements for the outdoor amusement section of the ordinance.
She also presented the supervisors with a petition of 815 signatures of people in favor of the outdoor concerts. She said 255 of the signatures are Neshannock Township residents, with 58 living within one mile of the Coffee Grinder.
Opposed
Thomas Burns of Wilmington Road, who lives across Pa. Route 18 from the restaurant, is opposed to the concerts. "The testimony given to date makes this sound terribly benign, like some wonderful thing we are doing for the Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts," Burns said during his testimony, adding, "This is obnoxiously wrong."
Burns said he and his wife are unable to sit on their front deck on summer evenings because of the loud music.
David Richardson gave testimony regarding decibel readings. The section of the ordinance pertaining to noise requires that the noise level must stay under 90 decibels.
Richardson said he took decibel readings on all sides of the property, and only once did the readings go higher than the required decibels.
Dorothy Latshaw, the closest neighbor to the establishment, gave testimony stating that she did not want to see the security fence placed between her property and the Coffee Grinder. Latshaw told the supervisors that she is content with the arborvitae screening that is there.
Motion
Supervisor John DiCola Jr. made a motion to approve the conditional use permit, pending further review. DiCola suggested that parking be limited to the designated 30 spaces, the concerts be finished at or around 10 p.m., and the security fence waived at the request of the neighbor.
Supervisor Chairman Gale Measel asked the Troxells to use common courtesy to direct sound away from the east side of the property. The east side of the Coffee Grinder faces the Burns property.