Brick Memorial Marching Band, Neighbors Seek To Live in Harmony

For some, the melodies of a marching band rehearsing is a welcome sound on a fall evening.

But for some residents of Alexander Avenue in Brick, the sounds of the Brick Memorial Marching Band rehearsing hits a sour note.

That has created a conflict between the two for the last three years, one band parent said Wednesday. But Brick Schools Superintendent Dr. Walter Uszenski said he hopes the issue is resolved -- and resolved for good.

The Brick Memorial Marching Band was forced to shut down its practice early on Tuesday evening, when Brick Township police officers responded to a noise complaint from residents of Alexander Avenue. Parents of the band members responded by flooding social media and local elected officials’ emails with complaints about the practice being stopped.

“I was surprised,” Uszenski said. “I had this last year and I thought it was all worked out.”

Last year, similar complaints about the noise had been made to the school district, he said, and at the time he met with staff at the high school, including then-principal Richard Caldes and the marching band director, to work out a resolution.

That resolution, he said, was to have the band spend some of its time rehearsing on the football field instead of always practicing in a parking lot right next to school, where the sounds bounce off the high school and reverberate into nearby homes.

Alexander Avenue runs along the northern edge of the school property, with the parking lot the band uses for rehearsal and the football field between the school and Alexander Avenue. There is a buffer of trees between the school property and the homes, but the sound of the band is amplified by the wall of the school, Uszenski said.

“They’re not supposed to practice in the same spot every day,” he said, to lessen the impact of the noise, particularly the snare drums.

Uszenski said he believed the band was doing the same thing this year until Wednesday morning when he was flooded with phone calls and complaints from both parents and residents.

The problem, he said, was the football team had a scrimmage on Tuesday evening, which forced the band to practice in the parking lot for the second straight night.

Uszenski said residents told him the snare drums in particular were so loud it was rattling windows, and Uszenski said the police officers who responded did take a reading and found the noise level exceeded 50 decibels -- a violation of the township’s noise ordinance. The township’s noise ordinance curbs playing of music (among other things) at 10 p.m., Uszenski said, but the volume was the problem.

“If you exceed that, they can shut you down regardless of what time it is,” Uszenski said.

Shannon Christensen, a member of the board of the marching band’s parents association, said there was never an issue with noise until a few years ago. The marching band has practiced in the evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. for at least a dozen years, she said, to accommodate the schedules of volunteers who assist the band director with the 92-member band. She said one resident in particular had been very aggressive in his complaints.

Uszenski said he and Brick Police Chief Nils Bergquist met with the residents and with staff from Brick Memorial, and the residents’ complaint in part was they weren’t notified about the football scrimmage and its added noise, as well as its impact on the band.

“I have phone numbers now,” Uszenski said, “so we can call them and let them know if there’s a similar problem.”

Christensen said the band has practiced in the parking lot for years because it can put down chalk markings to make sure it precisely hits its spots during its routines.

“You can’t put chalk on the football field,” she said.

Uszenski said there is a macadam surface that parallels the football field that the band can use for that purpose.

“We have to be able to accommodate the residents and their need for a quality of life,” Uszenski said, noting some of them are ill.

For her part, Christensen said she feels the conflict has overlooked the fact that the marching band has helped so many of the students grow in various ways.

“What would they rather have, these kids hanging out in the woods like others do?” she said.

Brick Township Police Chief Nils Bergquist issued a statement Wednesday afternoon that said he and Uszenski had met with residents of Alexander Avenue and the staff at Brick Memorial to clear up the problem.

“A miscommunication on the location of the Brick Memorial Band practice led to a complaint from neighbors on Alexander Avenue, which caused officers to request that the Brick Memorial Marching Band end their practice early,” the release sent by Sgt. Henry Drew said.

“An agreement between the staff and residents about where and when the practices will be held was reached. The affected neighbors fully appreciated the need and importance for the band to practice, and the staff at Brick Memorial High School expressed their respect for the quality of life of its neighbors. Chief Bergquist stated that he expects this agreement will alleviate any further conflict.”

(PHOTO CREDIT: Brick Memorial Marching Mustangs website)