Neighbors concerned about concerts at Bonfante
Gilroy – As Bonfante Gardens prepares for a summer concert, the city is crafting a new noise ordinance that could make some neighbors happy but trip up the park as it continues on the road to financial recovery.
It’s too early to say whether concerts and events at Bonfante Gardens will get special treatment under the city’s proposed noise ordinance. The city plans to spend the next few months sorting out acceptable noise levels for a range of activities. In the meantime, Bonfante neighbors will have to rely on police to crack down on disturbances.
Gilroy Planning Manager Bill Faus said any time there are homes next to an amusement park, there is potential for a problem. Faus did admit that there have been residents calling in about noise coming from the park.
“I wouldn’t characterize them as complaints. Several years ago when Bonfante Gardens announced that they’d be having an entertainment series in a pavilion environment on their grounds, we received several phone calls,” Faus said. “They were phone calls from people that had elevated concerns in terms of what that might mean in terms of disturbances out there.”
In response to those concerns, Faus said he went out to Bonfante multiple times in a single week to check noise levels. He found nothing out of the ordinary, but did admit there were no concerts at that time.
Mike Ternasky, a resident who lives on Rancho Vista Court, said he has had problems with noise coming from the park since it opened.
“They don’t give us much attention for mitigation,” he said, adding that he never receives any notices of what the park is doing, something he said park founder Michael Bonfante was very conscientious about. “The park has the responsibility to make their neighbors (comfortable).”
The noise ordinance that has been taken off-line for the time being would have put into place stricter laws governing residential, commercial, and industrial areas of the city. But as the city looks deeper into what it wants to put into law, residents who want to file a noise complaint will have to deal with the penal code, which prohibits an “unreasonable” amount of noise between the hours of 10pm and 7am.
That could leave Bonfante residents in a bit of limbo this summer, as city and county law enforcement take a hands-off approach to potential problems.
“It depends on who it is, where it is, and who is being affected,” said Gilroy Police Sgt. John Sheedy. He explained that residents near Bonfante who call police would be connected with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department.
Sheedy said Gilroy police may not be able to respond if the call comes from outside Gilroy’s jurisdiction. But the sheriff’s department said there is nothing they would be able to do.
“As long as there is a permit then you have to take it up with the city. Good luck,” said Deputy Serg Palanov of the sheriff’s department.
Palanov added that deputies would not even go so far as to look for a permit. Since Bonfante Gardens lies inside Gilroy boundaries, Palanov said, there is nothing the sheriff’s department could do. He said residents bothered by noise would have to take it up with the city where the “crime” originates.
Holly Perez, communications manager for Bonfante Gardens, said that the park always works within city guidelines when it comes to noise.
“We are always aiming to be good neighbors,” she said.
