Turn it down! Residents seek changes to big event permit after eclipse festival
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The Lake Buchanan Communities Alliance is requesting changes to Burnet County’s mass gathering permit in the wake of April’s weeklong Texas Eclipse festival at Reveille Peak Ranch, which reportedly kept nearby residents up all night.
The alliance sent officials an open letter on Aug. 26 asking that the permit for large events require “reasonable hours of operation” for amplified sound and decibel readings for compliance—and that both of those are enforced.
The Burnet County Sheriff’s Office is in charge of the mass gathering permit system and already in the process of amending it.
“We are definitely looking at altering (the mass gathering permit),” BCSO Chief Deputy Alan Trevino told DailyTrib.com. “One of the things we’re considering is putting a timeframe on when music can be played, depending on the day of the week. We’re also looking at different options for decibel and bass levels.”
A mass gathering permit is a county document required by Chapter 751 of the Texas Health and Safety Code. One is required when an event is expected to attract over 2,500 attendees. The Texas Eclipse festival brought in an estimated 30,000 people.
Burnet County’s current mass gathering permit does address noise, mandating it never exceed 70 decibels on the “A” sound scale at the perimeter of the permitted event, a standard set by the American National Standards Institute.
According to Trevino, the festival was likely the largest gathering the county has ever seen.
Burnet County Judge James Oakley also acknowledged the festival’s scale in an interview with DailyTrib.com and said it was a “learning experience.”
“We’ll be better prepared for any future permits,” he added.
The county is not currently processing any mass gathering permit applications, according to Oakley and Trevino.
Lake Buchanan Communities Alliance President Wayne Shipley told DailyTrib.com he could hear the music from the eclipse festival at his home on the west side of Lake Buchanan. The event took place at Reveille Peak Ranch, a large outdoor recreation facility on the east side of Lake Buchanan at 105 Burnet County Road 114.
According to the alliance’s open letter, which was signed by Shipley, residents surrounding Reveille Peak Ranch were inundated with loud music at all hours of the night throughout the festival’s duration.
“Several of our members reached out to us and wanted to know if we could do anything about it,” Shipley told DailyTrib.com.
The major requests in the alliance’s letter are:
- the inclusion of reasonable hours of operation for when amplified sound is allowed to begin and when it is required to end;
- that decibel readings are taken at the property line where the event is taking place in order to check for compliance;
- and that compliance with the mass gathering permit is strictly enforced.
The Lake Buchanan Communities Alliance is a coalition of neighborhoods surrounding Lake Buchanan in Burnet and Llano counties that was formed to represent the mutual interests of its members. To learn more about the group, email info@lb-ca.org.