Sound View Debate in Old Lyme Sends Beach Party to New London

OLD LYME, CT – After nearly 20 years of hosting events at Sound View Beach, the organizer of the “Black & Brown Experience End of Summer Beach Gathering” has moved the party to a different beach.

Organizer Hillary Brown is taking the event to Ocean Beach Park in New London. It will be held Friday, Aug. 28, and is now called “End of Summer Beach Skip Day.” 

The move followed discussions by town officials about restricting DJs and large gatherings at Sound View Beach. On Thursday, the Sound View Commission voted to recommend a ban on DJs and other amplified sound equipment at the beach, continuing a debate that began at the Board of Selectmen meeting earlier in the week. 

Proponents of the restrictions – including First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker, Selectman Jim Lampos and Lampos’ wife, Sound View Commission Co-Chairwoman Michaelle Pearson, all Democrats – said the loud music is detrimental to the neighborhood and beachgoers. 

Republican John Mesham, in a phone call Saturday, said the discussions surrounding the event reflected poorly on the town and made Brown feel singled out and unwelcome. 

The town’s handling of the event also drew criticism from Old Lyme resident and former Republican Board of Education member Chris Staab, who said it sent a painful message to families of color.

Mesham described the situation as unfortunate for Old Lyme. 

“I think it sent a really terrible message for the town,” he said. “The whole timing is so ill-conceived. It was even more poorly executed.”

Shoemaker on Saturday said her only concern is the sound and its carryover. 

“I told (Hillary) specifically that her group was entirely welcome. I said it at the Board of Selectmen meeting, that they were welcome. They have been wonderful to work with,” she said. “I told her that she was totally welcome and her group was totally welcome.”

Brown also had an event at Sound View in June and, according to Shoemaker, has been holding gatherings there since 2008. For the past two years, the parties have included a DJ.

Brown on Saturday could not be reached for comment. 

Selectmen will take up the commission’s recommendation at its first meeting in September, Shoemaker said. 

The ban would apply to amplified music, DJs, amplified voice, PA systems and/or sound systems, generators, catering or food service on the public beach, according to Sound View Commission meeting minutes. 

“We further recommend a review of potential events and a permitting process to be established that would not conflict with the unorganized general public’s right to quiet enjoyment of the beach,” the motion said.   

Shoemaker said town officials have received noise complaints about DJs and loud music at the beach and noted that many beachgoers prefer to experience the ocean without music.

She said she also has environmental concerns as the DJ brings a generator with a gas line, which she argued shouldn’t be so close to the ocean.

Shoemaker said she spoke with Brown on Thursday morning about her concerns and that she agreed to hold the party minus the DJ. Since that conversation, Shoemaker said she learned Brown had moved the event. She said she has not spoken to her again and is unsure why she changed the plans. Based on what was posted on the event website, Shoemaker suggested it was to try a different beach with more activities. 

Shoemaker said she has no issue with Brown or the group that gathers with her. She said the town just appreciates a “heads-up” in advance of large gatherings. 

She said the only issue to date with the DJ was when he set up in the security shack at Miami Beach, which is next to Sound View.

While Shoemaker does not want the DJ at beach events, she said in the past he has been “respectful,” has worked with local police to ensure partygoers’ safety and collaborated on noise issues.

Permit Debate

At Monday’s selectmen’s meeting, Shoemaker said her office was informed that a party with a DJ was in the works for Sound View. She said she had her staff write up an application mirroring similar forms for the use of town buildings and facilities.  

Anyone scheduling an event of 30 or more participants at the beach would have to fill out the form. DJs would not be permitted.

She asked selectmen to approve the form so the resident state trooper could let the party planners know they needed to fill it out.

She told fellow selectmen at the August meeting that if the DJ keeps coming to Sound View he will see it as a place where he can hold a party at any point in time. 

“I think this goes above and beyond what a public beach can be used for,” she said. “You don’t see this at Rocky Neck.”

She asked the board to approve the form with a requirement it be submitted at least three weeks before the event would take place. 

Shoemaker offered to cut it to one week after she was given pushback from Mesham, the selectman, for putting the three-week window on the form when there was no such requirement when the organizers planned the event.

“You’re trying to enact something that says you need three weeks’ notice so you just totally lock them out of doing anything,” Mesham said. “I don’t think that’s going to fly when you’re saying you missed the window that wasn’t even available.”

Lampos, the selectman, said the town needs to do something about private parties at the beach and said speakers, DJs and exclusive use of the beach should not be permitted, nor should bullhorns. 

The board ultimately tabled the matter as Pearson, the Sound View Commission co-chair, said the commission would take it up and bring a recommendation to the board. 

Pearson said the commission has been unable to prevent parties, gatherings and events with DJs at the beach and supports restricting private gatherings. She said loud music is disruptive to the neighborhood and other beachgoers.

“These types of events have a detrimental impact on the public’s right to enjoy the beach and often create loud unsafe situations with piles of trash left behind for the town to clean up,” she said. “Additionally, Sound View Beach is surrounded by a residential neighborhood.”

Mesham on Saturday noted that during the Board of Selectmen meeting, speakers seemed to avoid saying the name of the event that was the center of the discussion.

“I don’t understand how they wouldn’t consider this as coming off askew,” he said. “I’m sorry that this gave Old Lyme a black eye and I wish I had engaged the selectmen more at the meeting.”

When told that Shoemaker had spoken with Brown and assured her she and her group were welcome, Mesham said that conversation should have taken place before the first selectwoman “thought there was an emergency.”

Mesham said he didn’t see the situation as an emergency. He said the event has been held at the beach before and has not been problematic.

“This is the kind of thing that puts Old Lyme into doubt,” he said.