Health Complaint Against Brick Memorial Marching Band Settled, Official Says

When the drummers for the Brick Memorial Marching Band warm up before practice, you may see them in front of the school. On the football field. Or off on another part of the high school’s property.

That was the outcome of a hearing with the Ocean County Board of Health, where a neighbor of Brick Memorial High School filed a complaint about the noise level from the marching band, according to Richard Caldes, the interim superintendent of the Brick Township School District.

“They just have to rotate the drum warmup around the facility to keep the noise level down, and not always (warm up) in one location,” Caldes said when asked about the outcome of the hearing.

It was the latest clash in a conflict between the neighbor and the marching band -- a conflict that goes back at least three summers and that drew regional media attention last year after Brick Township police were called to shut down the band practices because they violated the township’s noise ordinance.

The Township Council has since waived the ordinance -- through a tightly crafted resolution that spelled out dates and times when the bands at both high schools would be practicing. Though the waiver spells out the times for both bands, only the Brick Memorial band -- which holds evening practices on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays -- has been the target of complaints.

The name of the neighbor who has filed the complaint was not released; however, Brick Patch would withhold the name to prevent retaliation against them, if the name was available.

Word of the newest complaint sparked outrage among commenters on the Patch story both on the Patch and on Facebook, with the vast majority speaking out in support of the band, including several who highlighted the fact that the school was there before the neighboring homes, where the complaining resident lives.

“Those houses weren’t even built when I went to high school there,” Kim Lash wrote in a comment on the Brick Patch Facebook page. “Why would you buy right next to a high school if you don’t want to deal with crowds, noise or kids. Sounds like a decision you should have to live with!”

“With heroin use at an all-time high and all sorts of other trouble for kids to get involved in these people are going to waste the town’s money and everyone’s time with these pointless complaints,” wrote Mike Wren. “Do they actually realize that this is not just children congregating to make noise but a valued program that helps give these kids focus, builds on their talents and is an award-winning national level group that work nonstop to better themselves and each other? I would love for that neighbor to come live where I grew up before moving to Brick and talk to me about noise. Gunfire, airplanes, sirens and subway trains are noise; this is talent you hear.”

Other commenters had similar sentiments, saying the band involvement was keeping kids out of trouble:

“Leave the kids alone. It’s great they want to pursue music rather than getting involved with drugs and crime. Have them play at Windward beach. I for one would love to listen!” wrote a commenter by the username of Jose.

John Q, another Patch commenter, wrote: ”Maybe the anonymous neighbor would rather see kids quietly smoking crack & shooting heroin instead making all of this unnecessary noise near his home, that mind you was built 10 years after the school opened. Or maybe he just didn’t see the school when he bought his home.”

One reader had a different take on the issue: “If this neighbor is complaining to the OC Board of Health about exposure to high sound levels at his home, it needs to be measured at his home,” wrote Bretskey. “According to OSHA, to be harmful, it must be above a certain SPL (sound pressure level) for a specified period of time at specific SPLs. The time frame is dependent on the measured SPL i.e. higher SPLs = shorter exposure time before harm. I’m sure it starts, stops and is not continuous over the specified period at a level deemed harmful.

“If his property (as I seem to remember from last year’s reportage) on Alexander Rd. doesn’t back directly up to the school property, I seriously doubt the SPL levels at his house are harmful,” Bretskey wrote. ”It’s likely the only thing being harmed is his peace and quiet. He agreed to the original compromise and after a summer off seems to have forgotten what it sounds like when school is back in session for the fall. And he doesn’t like to lose so he’s taking the “health” tack now.”

At least one reader sympathized with the neighbor:

“Generally I can say, I lived in mid-town Manhattan and it was quieter than Brick Township,” wrote KaayC. “What with the Nascar style gear head roadrunners, the midnight til pre-dawn boating, along with a cacophony of leaf blowing, mowers etc. make this one noise-polluted town. I must add that for all the noise, the resulting landscape ain’t all that. There is no quality of life here with all of this unregulated noise. Couple this with the empty storefronts, box chain cattle feed eateries, empty strip malls and it ain’t a pretty site.”

Dave Clark, commenting on Facebook, had this to say: “Although I personally have a big aversion to marching band music, I understand that other people like it and the kids get to make music. Like Tammy C said above, you cant move in next to a High School and not expect to have to deal with this. It is similar to those that built houses near the New Egypt Race Car track then started filing complaints.”

(The Brick Memorial Marching Band drummers perform at the Brick-Brick Memorial football game in September 2014. It is the drummers that apparently are drawing the ire of a neighboring resident. Credit: Karen Wall)