Laguna Beach to conduct noise policy study for Irvine Bowl

In response to growing interest in use of the Irvine Bowl to put on events during the offseason, Laguna Beach is looking into possible adjustments to the allowable noise levels and operating hours to meet the demand.

The Irvine Bowl, an amphitheater stationed on the Festival of Arts grounds at 650 Laguna Canyon Road, is the home of the Pageant of the Masters during the summer festival season.

Laguna Beach will conduct a noise policy study to help guide an approach for potential revisions and provide supporting information for recommended decibel levels and hours of operation. A staff report indicated the work is anticipated to take four to six weeks.

The city will pay $22,220 for the study to Rincon Consultants, Inc. The cost could be as much as $27,000 if an option is exercised for a representative event ambient noise study.

Resident Penelope Milne suggested the optional, more thorough study ought to be mandatory, stating that it would be the “most data-oriented” task assigned to the consultant.

Milne said the city needs to know how a noise of a certain decibel level coming from within the Irvine Bowl travels.

“We don’t know what that’s like when it hits Laguna Coast Wilderness Park,” Milne said. “We don’t know what that’s like on the Irvine Bowl trailhead. We need that data. Otherwise, you’re making decisions in the absence of data.”

The 133 Band plays at the Irvine Bowl in 2014. The venue is an amphitheater located on the Festival of Arts grounds.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Ben Warner, a co-founder of the Coast Film and Music Festival, spoke on behalf of the festival. He encouraged the council to move forward with the study and asked for consideration of the use of sound averages versus sound spikes in the collection of data.

“We’re an applicant to use the Irvine Bowl for live music events, not just during the film festival, but hopefully for many uses throughout the year,” Warner said. “I want to emphasize that we’re residents. We have over 100 volunteers that live here in Laguna Beach. We have a large community base that really supports the idea of live music in the Irvine Bowl, and we’re excited to move forward and work with the city and other members to make sure that when we do use the bowl, that it is done properly and using the right information.”

The Irvine Bowl policy committee approved an amendment requiring advanced approval for offseason events on Feb. 20, 2020. Current noise policy limits sound to a 70-decibel level at a boundary line separating the property from single-family residential homes.

A neighborhood sound boundary should also take into account impact on the area’s open space habitats, Milne said.

“That line is in between the Irvine Bowl and the neighborhood, and clearly that’s important, but we have a regional responsibility,” Milne told city officials. “That’s a wilderness area, that’s a very high value habitat area, that’s a nesting area for the gnatcatcher. Coastal greenbelt authorities contacted you about it. Laguna Canyon Foundation has contacted you about it.

“We should extend the neighborhood sound boundary … and measure sound, not just between the bowl and the neighborhood, which again is important, but it’s not the only important thing.”

Patrons enter the Irvine Bowl for the 2023 Pageant of the Masters show, “Art Colony: In the Company of Artists.”.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

The Irvine Bowl policy committee could not reach a consensus regarding amendments to the sound policy in February, leading to the item coming to the City Council. Mayor Alex Rounaghi said the city is moving ahead with the study to conduct the “proper analysis,” while also mentioning the venue had a decades-long history of hosting concerts. The study will be part of the environmental determination for the decision.

“It’s not like we’re changing anything. We’re basically going back to what’s happened for decades of our history,” Rounaghi said. “[Councilwoman] Sue [Kempf] and I have been working with [Cultural Arts Director] Sian Poeschl and the deputy city attorney, Jane Abzug, on how we can have a regulatory regime that makes sense and that balances the goals of many, but ultimately does what the Irvine Bowl was designed to do, which is have live music.”