HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-10-20 Public Comment - R. Pulcini - Pulcini Vs Chi O sororityFrom:Chris Mehl
To:Agenda
Subject:FW: Pulcini Vs Chi O sorority
Date:Monday, August 10, 2020 3:38:58 PM
Chris Mehl
Mayor, City of Bozemancmehl@bozeman.net406.581.4992________________________________________From: Ron Pulcini [paparepulcini@icloud.com]Sent: Monday, August 10, 2020 3:22 PMTo: Chris MehlCc: Casey Magan; Elinor PulciniSubject: Pulcini Vs Chi O sorority
Did I give you only a hard copy of our appeal for help from the city? Handed it to you first week of July.
I thought I enclosed it with a follow up EM. If not, here it is again:
BTW: A family next the A O Pii sorority is saddled with the same noise and inconvenience. So that’s two homes.Do we need 100 families like ours to give it weight?
The fan’s been going all day so far . . . is the City Manager doing anything?
BACKGROUND:
We are Ronald P Pulcini and Elinor de Lancey Pulcini. We have owned and lived in our house at 411 West GarfieldSt. since December 1995, our two, now grown daughters think of it as their only family home. Our property is zonedR-2.
Since 1995, we have paid over $110,000 in property taxes. Plus, in 2004, when our finances were already stressed,the city demanded we pay for a new sidewalk, but would not replace our Third World Curb. Is that because the cityhas to pay for curbs, while property owners must pay for sidewalks?
We bought our home knowing it was next to the Chi Omega Sorority (why is it zoned R-2?). At the time, there wasa rowdy fraternity directly across the street (Phi Sig), which, until its demise in 2006, caused us to call MSU policedozens of times. On the other hand, we’ve been told that Chi O house is limited to 40 ladies, that the women arerequired to maintain a B average and not consume alcohol on premises in order to remain as in-house members; theyhave never held evening or late-night parties. During the early fall, they practice their yells — cheers and whooping— on their front deck which we have never complained about. Over these many years, we would characterize ourrelationship with the sorority as friendly and respectful, although we did call the police a couple of times whenfraternity boys showed up after midnight screaming and yelling. In other words, we normally call the MSU PD onlyif it looks like things might get out-of-control.
What we do complain about is the noise from the sorority’s commercial-grade kitchen exhaust fan, which they run
for hours Monday - Friday, often into the night and which we’ve complained about for years. It is this issue — thefrequent, offensive noise from this over-sized exhaust fan that interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of ourfamily’s property and our everyday lives — which the city has been unable or unwilling to address.
The Chi Omega kitchen exhaust fan is located on the west side of their building, approximately 18 feet from ourproperty line and 35 feet from our rear patio. (our bedroom is also on that side of the house). It not only registersover 65 decibels, but has been left on at all hours affecting our ability to enjoy the patio, and of course, sleep! Wethought our city would help us with the problem, but the various departments we contacted seemed limited tonarrow interpretations of its own codes:
Bozeman Police Department (BPD) will not intercede or attend to complaints about noise from a sorority because ofa tacit agreement between BPD and Montana State University’s PD (MSU PD); as soon as you mention “sorority”in a complaint call, you are automatically switched to MSU PD.
Montana State University Police Department was often helpful with the fraternity Phi Sig, but this past year we aresincerely concerned about the tenor and comportment of its officers when we asked for assistance. The MSU PDapparently has no knowledge of, or the willingness to, enforce the city municipal noise code.
Bozeman Fire Department inspected Chi O’s fan at our behest; Fire Marshall Scott Mueller said the noise was nothis responsibility; and while he didn’t tell us that the fan had no fire suppression controls, he apparently did workwith the sorority to fix that after the Building Department got involved [see below].
Bozeman Code Compliance came out to inspect the fan in 2014 and again, in January 2020. Ken Phillips, CodeCompliance Program Manager claims there is “not enough evidence to support a citation regarding the noise . . .under the Bozeman Municipal Code at this time.” [letter, 1/31/20].
To Wit: Sec 16.06.050 Loud Noises Prohibited [Sentence 6]: Making or causing to be made any excessive orunusually loud noise or any noise which so harsh, prolonged, unnatural in time and place as to annoy, disturb, injure,or endanger the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of any reasonable person of normal sensitivity within thelimits of the city.
This code provision could have been enforced to cover the continued nuisance the fan has caused our family, butinstead of trying to ameliorate the situation, Phillips choose to find reasons why the code didn’t apply.- On his visit to our home, Ken Phillips said the fan wasn’t that loud, only 63 decibels he said. And the noise codedoes not mention a decibel threshold, therefore, there is no violation.- Mr. Phillips stayed a half-hour and did not acknowledge that such a noise could be bothersome if he were to listento it days on end and into the night.By NOT citing Chi Omega for any violations Mr. Phillips implied that we are not “reasonable people of normalsensitivity.”
CaptiveAire & Air Controls Are the fan’s manufacturer (North Carolina) and installer (Bozeman). In a friendly call
on 2/18/20 with CaptiveAire’s Luke Stinchfield (Kalispell office), we learned that the fan is an “updraft” version,usually mounted to aim up, not horizontally. He noted in the photos I sent him that the fan is mounted too close tothe roof soffit and said about the noise, “There’s a simple solution: the fan has a built-in speed control which wouldhelp lower the volume.” NOTE: Luke would not return any calls after that conversation when Air Controls wasapparently contacted by the Fire Department. Air Controls’s Rex or Ken (did not get last names) advised us tocontact the sorority for any and all questions and complaints.
Bozeman Building Department — Akrista Aslin told us on/about 2/18/20 that the fan in question had been installed(re-aimed to the north) without a permit in 2014. She also said there were other permit violations that she couldn’tdiscuss with us. Because of the Covid-19 emergency, we stopped calling her.
Jodi Peretti is President, Sigma Beta chapter of Chi Omega Corporation, and acts as the owner of the sororitybuilding through its holding company. Her letter (attached) in early September 2014 says the sorority was doingwhat it could to find a reasonable solution to our complaints, only to see them install a larger fan, aimed to the north!
David & Susy Johnson are friends and neighbors with whom we share a back fence. Their attached letter testifies toour frustration, which, from time-to-time, they have also shared.
Casey Magan is our attorney of record regarding the MSU PD case against Ron (Disorderly Conduct); this, at a timewhen our finances are subject to this failing economy. She is to be in contact with Jodi Peretti, Akrista Aslin, and theMSU PD to help us straighten out the bad relations that have come about because of the fan and our constantcomplaints.
CONCLUSION & REQUEST Because every department in the city we’ve contacted has avoided taking any action to help us, we’re beginning towonder if Chi Omega sorority hasn’t been endowed with a sanctified status that precludes good citizens’ complaintsfrom being taken seriously against them.
Why is such a huge, commercial-grade exhaust fan allowed to be mounted: 1) on the side of a building closelyfacing a single-family dwelling in an R-2 zone, 2) is allowed to run all day and often into the night, 3) operate like abusiness, i.e., employees, etc and not have a business license and, how it is that citizens who complain about such“excessive, prolonged” noise become THE PROBLEM?
WE LIVE IN OUR HOME. THE SORORITY “SISTERS” STAY IN THEIR DORM-HOTEL. WE’VE LIVEDHERE 25 YEARS, THEY MIGHT STAY THREE YEARS.