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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cda Council To Consider Music Permit Tubs Cafe Wants To Have Summer Blues Concerts

Will it be another summer of music from the sunny shores of East Lakeshore Drive? Or would that be noise?

Tubs Cafe is asking the Coeur d’Alene City Council to approve tonight another summer of blues concerts in its outdoor beer garden. But at least one neighbor is trying to derail that effort.

Tom and Kelly Sullivan, the couple who turned the run-down building and grounds into a gourmet restaurant and top-flight outdoor music venue, also want the council to expand their loud-speaker permit.

The Sullivans want to be able to share their stage with the Lake City Playhouse on Thursday evenings.

They also want to run their Friday and Saturday night shows one or two hours later.

“It’s so hot in the summertime that people come off the lake at 5 p.m. and get here at 6 for a show” that’s well under way, Kelly Sullivan said.

Some City Council members back granting the Sullivans at least the same permit they had last year. That allowed blues concerts between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays from June though September.

Councilman Chris Copstead has received complaints from only one neighbor - Karla Gibson at the Cedar Motel & RV Park, he said. “I’ve heard nothing but positive comments from the rest of the community.”

Copstead also said he walked through the area several times last summer, finding that the traffic was louder than the music.

But the conflict between the Sullivans and Gibson hasn’t quieted since Gibson raised questions last summer.

Gibson estimates she lost between $20,000 and $30,000 because of canceled reservations and people who didn’t drop in and rent a room once they heard the music.

“The music was very loud and there were lots of complaints,” said Gibson, now wintering in Hawaii. “There are too many motels for them to put up with anything they don’t want to put up with.

“It’s not fair for a new business to come into a neighborhood and disrupt the rest of the neighborhood,” Gibson said. “I’ve been there 24 years.”

Gibson said she would agree to the loudspeaker permit if the blues garden were totally closed in and if the permissible noise level were reduced. She also suggests the Sullivans use the blues garden for other things - festivals, plays and the like.

Kelly Sullivan said she doesn’t like the division with her neighbor. “We certainly don’t want to make her life miserable,” she said.

Tubs customers stay in the Cedar. Guests at the Cedar pull out their lawn chairs and listen to the tunes - a sign they clearly enjoy the music. Moreover, “we were given a permit and didn’t violate it,” Sullivan said.

Outdoor permit or not, Tubs will continue smaller indoor shows this winter with names such as Pat Boyack & the Prowlers and A.J. Croce, son of the famed singer Jim Croce.

In other business tonight, the council will hear a Planning Commission request for input on regulations for dealing with the growing number of garages illegally being converted into apartments.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Council news In other business, the council: Is expected to raise dog license fees from $3 to $7 for fixed animals and from $7 to $15 for animals that haven’t been fixed. Will consider amending the city’s open records policy to conform with changes in state law made by the 1997 Legislature. Those changes establish document charges for people wanting more than 100 pages of documents if it will take more than two hours of labor to retrieve the information. There also are other changes to prevent people from using public records for mailing lists or telemarketing.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Council news In other business, the council: Is expected to raise dog license fees from $3 to $7 for fixed animals and from $7 to $15 for animals that haven’t been fixed. Will consider amending the city’s open records policy to conform with changes in state law made by the 1997 Legislature. Those changes establish document charges for people wanting more than 100 pages of documents if it will take more than two hours of labor to retrieve the information. There also are other changes to prevent people from using public records for mailing lists or telemarketing.