New York judge shuts down concerts at Forest Hills Stadium following neighbors’ noise complaints

A Queens neighborhood is done covering its ears after a judge ordered the owners of Forest Hills Stadium to turn down the volume amid persistent complaints from residents.

Supreme Court Justice Joseph Esposito recognized that the noise from the hall – and wandering spectators – were a legitimate nuisance to neighbors, and ordered hall supervisors to put up a lid following a lawsuit filed by Forest Hills Garden Corp., a local civic corporation. band.

“The crowd invades the street. It’s overwhelming,” one neighbor told the Post. “The waste after (concerts) is ridiculous. When I moved here, I was looking forward to a fairly quiet neighborhood. Rock concerts resonate in my eardrums.

“Of course I want everyone to enjoy their summer,” the 61-year-old said. “I hope there’s a way for us to coexist, but I don’t see how.”

Esther Welsh, a local resident, said the concerts don’t bother her so much as the crowds they attract.

“I love concerts,” Welsh said. “I think they are nice and good for the neighborhood. But I think we don’t have the necessary infrastructure. Basically, we need more trash cans. People come and there is nowhere to put their trash. So there is waste everywhere after the concerts.

In his April 19 ruling, Esposito said the civic group made its case loud and clear.

“The court finds that (Forest Hills Garden) is entitled to a preliminary injunction prohibiting (Forest Hills Stadium) from permitting excessive noise to emanate from the stadium,” Esposito wrote.

“The (Forest Hill Garden) expert’s affidavit in which he concluded that the alleged noise was approximately 100 times the legal limit for the residential area was not refuted by competent evidence and the residents’ affidavits detailed the nocturnal aggression for the quiet enjoyment of their respective homes,” indicates the decision of April 19.

Stadium owners must hire a contractor to monitor noise and classify the results while erecting barricades to prevent spectators from wandering into the area.

They must also obtain a sound permit from the city.

However, the civic group’s attempt to stop the shows was rejected by another judge.

Supreme Court Justice Robert Caloras agreed with the noise monitoring but noted that the venue “has gone to significant effort and expense to implement noise mitigation measures” and deserved the timing of the summer concerts start as planned.

This iconic 13,000-seat stadium, operated by the West Side Tennis Club and opened in 1923, has hosted world-famous artists including the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra and the Rolling Stones.

In recent years, the number of events has increased, as has the noise level and frequency of patrons spilling onto local streets, neighbors say.

Chris Jaray, 46, has lived in the neighborhood his entire life and his family owned the house across the street from the stadium for nearly 100 years. He said he loved concerts until it became too much.

“I was a fan at first, when there were 15 of them and it was pretty low-key,” Jaray told the Post. “But when they started adding 30, then there all day. For some people the noise is ridiculous, like when they do drum and bass shows my house really shakes.

“So I’m not a fan of that,” Jaray said. “If they go back to the 15 concerts like they originally did, the other thing is these 30-plus concerts are happening every weekend throughout the summer.”

The association sued stadium supervisors in May 2023, seeking to escape the noise.

Anthony Oprisiu, chairman of the board of Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, said they tried — and failed — to reach a deal with the West Side Tennis Club.

“Our community was forced to sue the West Side Tennis Club after the club and its for-profit concert operator, Tiebreaker, brazenly refused to coordinate with us over overuse and street closures, noise levels, logistics concerts and TRIPLE the initial number of events they had organized. promised when concerts returned to the stadium ten years ago after a hiatus of more than a decade,” he said in a statement.

“We are grateful that the court heard our concerns and made this decision,” Oprisiu added.

“We look forward to working with the West Side Tennis Club, Tiebreaker, municipal agencies and City Hall to ensure that 2024 events follow the law and demonstrate more respect for our community while this important trial continues. is resolved by the court.”

But West Side Tennis isn’t going away quietly, serving the civic group with a countersuit in September.

“Forest Hills Stadium is an iconic venue that has consistently sought to minimize its impact on local residents and follow the law throughout its 100-year history,” said Akiva Shapiro of Gibson Dunn Law Firm, who represents West Side Tennis. Club, said in a statement last week.

“It will continue to do so under the recent orders of Justices Esposito and Caloras of the Queens Supreme Court, and looks forward to the opportunity provided by the orders to implement a security plan that will ensure entry and exit of spectators in an orderly manner. way, and to have an independent sound monitoring report on stadium sound levels,” Shapiro said.

“The Stadium looks forward to welcoming the fast-approaching concert season. »

In its countersuit, the stadium complained that the civic group acted “in bad faith” in discussions with West Side Tennis and was guilty of “repeated and intentional misrepresentations” of the dispute.

And despite the long-running feud, some residents interviewed by The Post said they still love the century-old concert hall in their backyard.

“I’m a stadium fan,” resident Juliana Chessin said. “I think for young families it’s really fun. They close the streets, my son rides his scooter and we go out to Forest Hills Center.

“For us, it’s a really nice, fun thing to have in the neighborhood and I think it’s something that makes the neighborhood special,” Chessin said.