Are we headed for a honkey tonk Ponte Vedra?
That’s what some residents who live off of Lake Kathryn Drive in Sawgrass Country Club are asking.
Resident Donald Powell said earlier this week that since May, the music from Pusser’s Caribbean Grille on A1A has been floating across the boulevard into the backyards of Sawgrass residents.
“It got pretty bad and a lot of residents are really upset,” said Powell. “We can hear it in our bedroom with all the windows and doors closed.”
Pusser’s General Manager Dan Monk said the restaurant has had music since they opened and have always remained within the decibel range allowed by county ordinance.
“We take this very seriously because we are new to the community and we want them as our customers,” said Monk. “Every time we are out there, the traffic clearly outweighs the music we have.”
The county ordinance that addresses noise limits identifies Pusser’s as a business and as such they must not emit noise louder than 65 decibels between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.. From 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., the decibel level must not exceed 60.
Sergeant Timothy Robertson of the St. Johns Sheriff’s office is well acquainted with this issue.
“This issue has been ongoing since The Players Championship,” Robertson said. “There has not been a time since TPC where Pusser’s has been over their decibel level. It’s a unique situation. The design of the building focuses music into that community.”
Robertson said the Sheriff’s office has received numerous noise complaints from the residents of the Lake Kathryn neighborhood regarding Pusser’s. He said he understands their frustration and the Sherriff’s office responds every time.
“They don’t want to hear the music,” said Robertson. “They want their community to be peaceful.”
Powell agreed.
“The residents are bothered by the noise, its not that they don’t like Pusser’s,” he said. “We’d like them to stop the noise at such a high level that it reaches over to us.
It’s not just the residents of Lake Kathryn. Ponte Vedra resident Sam Heffner, who lives farther south by The Plantation, empathasizes with Powell’s plight.
“Certainly Pusser’s is not cynical enough to think that their customers who live out of earshot, like I do, will not eventually empathize with our fellow citizens whose evenings at home are ruined by uninvited Caribbean cacophony, no matter how much we normally enjoy this evocative music,” he said in a letter. “There is still time for this otherwise successful operation to become a welcomed and respected member of the community.”
Monk said that Pusser’s has invested in its own decibel level reader and frequently takes measurements from the upstairs deck when the music is playing. Additionally, they have adjusted the times in which they have live music from the deck, in an effort to appease the neighbors. Reggae Sundays at Pusser’s is now 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monk said they switched from a three or four piece band on Friday and Saturday nights to an acoustic performer as to not continue to agitate neighbors.
“We are working diligently,” he said. “We want to be good neighbors. I go to these neighborhoods to hear the music. If there is no traffic and perfect wind conditions, it carries. But we are within our decibel levels.”
Despite the good will and Powell’s admission that last week residents were pleased not to hear any music, he is still concerned about the situation.
“I’m concerned about the precedent it will set for Ponte Vedra,” he said. “One of my neighbors said if we wanted to live in a honkey tonk town we would have moved to Jacksonville Beach.”
