Vineyard quiet as sound test lingers

By Tom Killin Dalglish
Posted 8/4/19

LITTLE COMPTON — It has been an unusually quiet summer at Carolyn's Sakonnet Vineyards this season with just one concert so far this season [by the Warwick Philharmonic, in a "pop-up" …

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Vineyard quiet as sound test lingers

Posted

LITTLE COMPTON — It has been an unusually quiet summer at Carolyn's Sakonnet Vineyards this season with just one concert so far this season [by the Warwick Philharmonic, in a "pop-up" appearance], and no others announced. 
And there have been no weddings this summer season either at the vineyard.
Now is the peak of the summer season, which ordinarily in recent years has featured a series of weddings and concerts (mostly folk and jazz) at the vineyard, that have taken place on weekends and some weekdays between early July and Labor Day weekend.
Until now, the the explanation for the silence this season has been said to be the logistics and expenses involved in abating (e.g. by vegetation buffers, speaker placement and orientation, etc.) the noise and light associated with outdoor concerts and weddings.
It has taken time also for acoustic engineers to complete the court-ordered sound testing. How to do that? By either "waveguide" or "speaker location" techniques? And at what expense?
"It's unclear what the vineyard's plans are," said lawyer Christopher D'Ovidio, but "we're moving on the five yard line."
Mr. D'Ovidio seemed to be referring to how soon the vineyard was going to be able to sponsor concerts and book weddings this season at its venue under the establishment's entertainment licenses from the Town of Little Compton.
Mr. D'Ovidio, represents Brian and Natalie Eliason, vineyard neighbors living on the east side of Watson Reservoir across from the vineyard.
For the past several years, the Eliasons, along with other neighbors abutting and near the vineyard, have objected to loud music from weddings and concerts, and the ambient light and noise from event parking at the site.

Sound testing — more needed

On the sound level question, retired Supreme Court Judge Frank Williams on April 17, 2019 arbitrated a dispute between the parties, about what should be considered acceptable sound levels.
He listened to testimony from David Coate, an acoustical engineer, and Cynthia Rocha, the general manager at the vineyard,
In an opinion announcing his April 17 arbitration award, Judge Williams wrote, "based on the testimony of Mr. Coate and Ms. Rocha, as well as current and past concerns and the history of this matter, the arbitrator believes that additional testing is in order. Such testing shall include any further collection of data, a suggested plan among the two approaches, noting that the parties must agree to implementation of the plan or have the suggestions mediated or arbitrated in the absence of agreement."
The "two approaches" refer to what the arbitrator called — without explanation — the "waveguide" or "speaker location" approaches.
In his arbitration award, Judge Williams ordered that there be "full cooperation" among the parties, and that "all testing as herein awarded be concluded by July 31, 2019 without disturbing planned concerts during this period."
On the testing issue, Brian Eliason on July 18 indicated "there will be a concert to test the new sound system this month."
But none has been announced.

Settlement reached
On May 17, wrote Natalie Eliason, in a posting to a group called the Little Compton Coalition (neighbors, friends, abutters), the parties "agreed to settle" the years' long litigation that involved them all, and the vineyard.
The settlement, wrote Ms. Eliason, "took over a year and a half to mediate and arbitrate." The judgment dismisses all claims by all of the parties.
It "was a way to stem the immense cost of litigation" and allow for "a mechanism to resolve future disputes," as well as to limit the number of events at the vineyard.
Importantly, the settlement anticipated one remaining area of potential contention, and sought to address it, by establishing a set process to ensure that sound levels are tolerable for vineyard neighbors.
The settlement or resolution between the parties, said Mr. D'Ovidio, "was not intended to shut things down. They can still have their concerts but regulated by some sound mitigation plan."

An alternative explanation

A 34-page lawsuit filed by Alex and Ani, LLC in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Thursday indicates that Alex and Ani has concerns that overshadow the vineyard concerts it has sponsored. The lawsuit was filed against the Bank of America, one of Alex and Ani's creditors.
In the lawsuit, Alex and Ani, which has sponsored the summer concerts at the vineyard, says that actions by the Bank of America, "over the past few months — starting with a made-up default, and culminating in a deliberate plan to starve Alex and Ani of credit from any source — have sent a once-thriving American success story into a death spiral, with 1,500 jobs potentially in the balance."
Alex and Ani claims to have already lost several hundred million dollars in value" as a result of the bank's action.
Those losses include, says Alex and Ani, $10 million in lost revenues, close to $16 million in outstanding vendor payables, a delay in shipment of new products, a negative sales impact of close to $80 million, and other damages.
The overall lawsuit is for breach of contract, tortious interference, discriminatory and illegal lending practices, and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as $1.1 billion in damages.
The vineyard's own website lists no "events" (e.g. weddings and concerts) for this summer.
The website also says that Carolyn Rafaelian, "owner and creative director of Alex and Ani, owns Carolyn's Vineyard personally." In other words, the corporate entity of Alex and Ani does not own the vineyard.
There's other evidence of some corporate belt-tightening by Alex and Ani.
On July 26, it was reported that Alex and Ani declined to renew the naming rights deal it's had for the past five years for the downtown skating rink.
Cynthia Rocha, general manager for the Sakonnet Vineyard, did not respond to several inquiries for this story.

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