CAMDEN — For two years running, condominium residents in the Knox Mill on Washington Street have been complaining about the music noise emanating at night from the Smokestack Grill.

This week the issue of noise was again on the Camden Select Board agenda, with one seasonal Knox Mill resident also pointing out that the town's Police Ordinance, as it pertains to Special Amusement Permits for music, dancing or entertainment, failed to include the Transitional River Business District zone in its standards for hours of operation.

That is an issue, said resident Patti Marxsen, because the town for two years has been seemingly applying those standards in its dealings about noise levels and duration at Smokestack Grill, which is in the B-TR zone with the Knox Mill condominiums.

"Where 15 of about 50 complaints about the Smokestack Grill, going past 11 p.m. [playing music] have been confirmed as valid by Chief Gagne's office, can we also expect meaningful consequences to result based on this statement from the police ordinance: 'More than three complaints of unnecessary noise reported to the chief of police within any year that a licensee has a permit may cause municipal officers to consider revocation or suspension of the permit following notice of a hearing in the interest of the interested parties.'?"

Smokestack Grill is located on the first floor of a building on Mechanic Street, and overlooks the Megunticook River and waterfall.

So too do the condos, which came into existence beginning in 2005. Built in the late 1800s and known locally as Building Six of the Knox Mill complex, the 80,000-sqauare-foot space was, for more than 100 years, home to wool blanket and soldier uniform manufacturing. The Knox Woolen Mill closed for business in 1987 and a few years later the credit card company MBNA snapped up the real estate, moved into the entire complex and converted the space to offices.

But beginning in 2004, when Bank of American acquired MBNA, the new owner began divesting the real estate holdings, including the Knox Mill complex.

The Knox Mill complex, among other former Midcoast MBNA holdings, was then acquired by three Baltimore businessmen working as Maine Investment Properties. Their plan was to convert the office space in Building Six into 26 luxury condominiums, complete with roof decks and gardens.

At the time, there was a lot of public discourse about converting more downtown industrial and commercial space into residential space, following on the heels of the former YMCA parcel on lower Chestnut Street being demolished and three private residences built in its place. But voters ultimately approved the plan and work began on some of the units.

In 2009, the bank acquired MIP's real estate holdings after the group failed to make mortgage payments and the properties went into receivership. In 2010, Building Six was bought by real estate investment group Kelm Acquisition LLC, headed by lead investor Cathleen Moore, of Massachusetts, and Michael Nash, both now living in Camden. Kelm Acqusition continued the condominium project begun by MIP and has since sold many of the 26 units. In 2011, the remainder of the Knox Mill properties, including the building housing Smokestack Grill, was bought by Camden businessman Matt Orne, representing AHP Camden LLC.

Prior to the Smokestack Grill, Sea Dog Brewing Company operated in the space during the MBNA days. And like Sea Dog, Smokestack has a large bar, serves food and hosts both live music and DJs.

According to Camden police, Knox Mill condo residents in 2011 filed 23 noise complaints. Six of those were called in before 11 p.m., so did not trigger a violation. In 11 of those complaints, Camden police found the noise to be unreasonable.

Section 4 Standards:

The municipal officers hereby adopt the following standards for the issuance of a special amusement permit and for the suspension or revocation of such permits.

(1) Hours of operation. The permitted activities under a special amusement permit shall cease no later than 11:00 p.m. in aresidential zone as defined by the Zoning Ordinances of the Town of Camden except that permitted activities shall cease no later than 12:00 midnight in a residential zone on New Year's Eve; and no later than 12:30 a.m. in a commercial zone as defined by the Zoning Ordinances of the Town of Camden except that permitted activities shall cease no later than 1:30 a.m. in a commercial zone on New Year's Eve. It shall be deemed detrimental to the public safety or welfare for entertainment of the type requiring special amusement permit to occur between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. (12:00 midnight --6:30 a.m. on New Year's Eve) in a Rural Zone as defined by Section IV, Article 1, in a Residential 2 Zone as defined by Section IV, Article 2, a Residential 1 Zone as defined by Section IV, Article 3, an Industrial Zone as defined by Section IV, Article 6, and in a Shoreland Zone as defined in Section IV, Article 7 of the Zoning Ordinances of the Town of Camden; and, 12:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. --6:30 a.m. on New Year's Eve) in the following zones: Business Zone 2 as defined by Section IV, Article 4, Business Zone Down Town -B-1 as defined by Section IV, Article 5, and Harbor and Business Zone as defined by Section IV, Article 8 of the Zoning Ordinances of the Town of Camden.

Between May 18, 2012, and May 6, 2013, Camden police recorded 55 nuisance complaints from Knox Mill condominium residents regarding noise from the adjacent Smokestack Grill.

An officer was dispatched to each of these complaints and in 40 of them, found the noise level was "not unreasonable," according to a May 2 memo from Camden Police Chief Randy Gagne to Town Manager Patricia Finnigan.

"The remaining 15 instances, officers noted the noise to be unreasonable. In one instance, the DJ was found to still be playing at 00:59 hours. The officer spoke with [the tavern manager] and the DJ was stopped. The highest decibel level reading taken was 91," wrote Gagne in the memo.

Monday night, the Select Board heard from Marxsen, who said that because the B-TR zone is not included in the police ordinance, "This leaves us nothing to fall back on other than individual interpretations and persistent questions in this zone."

Marxsen requested that the town review the police ordinance and address the omission of the zone from it.

She also asked that the town "Recognize the new realities that a fully occupied residential community is now in this zone," and "that the police chief enforce the existing ordinance as if the permitted residential use in the B-TR zone entitles residents to the full protections intended in the rules, regulations and restricted hours of operation referenced [in the ordinance] for all residential zones in the town."

Such diligent enforcement, said Marxsen, would imply "no" amplified music in a residential zone under any circumstances and no permitted activities requiring a special permit occur between 11 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.

The Select Board also had a letter from condominium resident T. Richard Snyder, who asked the town, as a precursor to renewing Smokestack Grill's permit, to require the owners to take additional measures to lower the sound level.

"While we acknowledge that this is a mixed-use zone, we ask that his business be conducted in a manner that does not disturb our peace, quiet and comfort, as the town ordinance stipulates," wrote Snyder.

Snyder requested the following additional steps be forced upon Zak Cohn, co-owner of Smokestack Grill: that sound deadening coverings be installed on the uncovered windows/glass door, including kitchen window, if permitted by law and that the music be moved to the area where the pool table currently stands.

During their discussion, Select Board members agreed that the town should review the Police Ordinance and address the issue raised by Marxsen.

"What I see with the mill property is, it was never intended to be doing what is being done now, residential use with commercial use with live music, even recorded music, which can be loud," said White.

But White said he felt Cohn had been doing everything asked of him to date to mitigate the noise. White did say that the town ought to review how the sound-deadening curtains are being hung to ensure they are being done like they should be.

White lamented that as long as the Smokestack continues to have entertainment, and residents continue live in the other part of the mill property, there would be tension and irritation with the noise.

"I think everybody is working hard, the Smokestack is obviously working hard to do something and it's very unfortunate that sometimes your employees, Zak, or your contractors go over the [time or sound] limit. And for that I'm sure you wish you could make sure that didn't happen so that the neighbors weren't upset," said White. "The good part is that we haven't heard that dozens or hundreds of people have been arrested. And there are a lot of people that enjoy going there. But on the other side, there are a lot of these folks -- and many are close to their senior years -- and they wish to have a comfortable existence there and it's just unfortunate these two keep meeting at loggerheads."

Select Board member Leonard Lookner said it was an issue that the town's zoning allows such downtown activities as happens at Smokestack Grill, while the Comprehensive Plan encourages a mixture of residential in the downtown area.

He called the two "totally inconsistent."

"I'm suggesting that our Comp Plan, in spite of what zones allow, seems to be in violation of our very ordinance," said Lookner. "It's something the planning board should look into."

Select Board member John French and Chief Gagne both said that Cohn has complied with the restrictions placed on his Smokestack Grill over the past year, including putting up sound-deadening curtains when the music starts later at night. French and the others wondered aloud if Town Manager Finnigan could revisit the establishment and consider other options.

In year's past, Cuzzy's restaurant and bar on Bay View Street had been the subject of a slew of noise complaints from neighbors and when asked why that seemed to have stopped, chairman Martin Cates said it was because Chris Cousens stopped playing amplified music.

"He volunteered to do that, we didn't require it," said Cates.

Cates also asked that Finnigan review the plans at Smokestack, and bring in a sound engineer to do some measurements and check on the curtains and whether they were adequate.

"Between then and now, I don't favor changing anything. I have heard nothing that says Zak isn't doing his part to adhere to restrictions. It's debatable whether what restrictions we put into place are enough, but I don't feel we should do anything different at this time," said Cates.

In response to the letter written by Snyder, asking the board to require that Cohn move the music to an opposite wall and/or add more curtains to kitchen windows and doors, Cohn said fire and life safety codes prevent him from doing anything that blocks or hinders emergency exits, among other things.

"The river drowns out some of the sound, but the river runs at 45 decibels, so it's not a condo without noise on a regular basis from the river," said Cohn. "There is noise being in a downtown area, it's where we are. But we are making an effort and I think it's working."

Snyder's wife, Carole, told the select board that it's very distressing to live with the noise. She said she has lived in many places with noise, but never lived with the music noise she to live with every weekend now.

"You are able to block out regular noise, I live with a waterfall and block it out. But there is something about that deep music we cannot shake from our system," said Carole Snyder. "I honestly don't know what else we can do and I don't want to live like this the rest of my life, I don't want to live like this much longer."

White reiterated his earlier statement about the annual nature of the issue, and that it would not soon be going away without something drastic changing.

"I said this could be coming up annually, as truthfully this building is doing what it hasn't been doing in recent years. But there is no immediate solution. If we do more noise testing, we might find another thing to do. But I am not in a position to take a vote to eliminate music entertainment now. None of us are. Zak has done what we asked him to do last year," said White.

In the end, the select board made a motion to follow up on the zoning issue brought up by Marxsen, continue to require sound-deadening curtains and bring in an acoustic sound engineer to follow up and help the town do more work to mitigate the noise. If the noise is not abated to the satisfaction of neighbors, the town is requiring that Cohn return and report back to discuss further potential requirements.

Finnigan also said the town needs to vow to keep working on the problem until they find a solution.

"This is an important issue to us, and we want the community to know that. I am committed to it. There is no magic, silver bullet, but we will keep working on it," said Finnigan.

The motion passed unanimously, and Cohn was issued both a liquor license and special amusement permit.