ELY – A longtime Ely establishment owner was partially successful this week in her effort to receive amplification permits outside of the city of Ely’s noise ordinance.

Jean Zaverl, owner of Zaverl’s Bar, 509 E. Sheridan St., had requested a permit to conduct outside music fundraising events on Saturday, Aug. 20, and Sept. 9-10 (Harvest Moon Festival) until 11 p.m. and on Tuesdays until 10 p.m. during the Chamber of Commerce’s Tuesday Night Live events.

The city’s noise ordinance allows outside music until 9 p.m. except for the Fourth of July and the Saturday of the Blueberry/Art Festival when music is allowed until 11 p.m.

City Council members agreed to allow Zaverl to have outside music until 11 p.m. only on the Saturdays of Aug. 20 and Sept. 10. She is required to submit separate permit applications for each date and pay a $75 permit fee for each date requested.

In a letter sent to the city and received on Aug. 4, Zaverl requested the extended time music license for Aug. 20 for a fundraising event for college scholarships. The letter was unclear as to the purpose of the events for the two nights during the Harvest Moon Festival on Sept. 9-10. In her appearance before the council Tuesday night, Zaverl indicated she was also holding fundraising events both of those nights.

She also requested to have outdoor music until 10 p.m. during the Chamber’s Tuesday Night Live events. The chamber’s events are finished by 9 p.m. on those Tuesdays.

“I don’t call it Tuesday Night Live because I am not a member of the Chamber,” Zaverl said. “I’ve always had music on Tuesdays. For 16 years before Tuesday Night Live, we had karaoke in the bar. Now I have a deck in the back.”

She described the deck behind the business as being 20x20 feet in size, located between the bar and the garage. “Not a lot of noise or music travels,” she said. There are businesses located on each side of the establishment and Zaverl owns the house across the alley behind the business. The next-door house is empty, according to Zaverl.

“I never had any complaints,” she said. Then she recounted an instance during the Blueberry/Art Festival in which her bar went a half hour over the allowed time. “But we had three parties in the neighborhood too and they (the Ely Police Department) didn’t check on those, but came to me and told me I had to shut the music down. Two minutes after they walked in the door it was shut off, but the other parties were going on and we got in trouble.”

Zaverl clarified her request to be allowed to have music until 10 p.m. on Aug. 20, Sept. 9-10, and every Tuesday night until the end of September. Tuesday Night Live wraps up the season on Aug. 23. She was ready to submit her application for those nine dates and had prepared a check for $75.

Council member Albert Forsman said, “I know that 11 p.m. is pretty late for a lot of us. As we get into the fall it gets darker earlier. I also want to point out that these permits aren’t all encompassing, and when the men in blue come, you still have to abide by what they say.”

Zaverl noted that the music she provides is karaoke that involves one speaker and one singer. “I don’t have rock and roll bands with lots of amplifiers, she said. “I never have bands on my deck. It is all karaoke. That’s what I’m known for. We’re not as loud as everyone thinks we are.”

Council members voted unanimously for Zaverl to submit two separate permits for outdoor music until 11 p.m. on Saturday Aug. 20 and Saturday, Sept. 10.

Mayor Chuck Novak suggested the council study the Tuesday Night music requests over the winter and will make a decision in time for next summer.

Other business

In other business, the council took the following action:

• Presented a Volunteer of the Year Award to Tom Omerza, based on letters submitted by his four children, that listed all of the activities he is involved with, including the Hoop Club, Track Club, Touchdown Club, All Nite Grad Party, Girls Softball, Little League, efforts to renovate the high school football field, “and the list goes on and on,” said Novak;

• Directed the city staff and city attorney to draft an ordinance to allow conditional use permits for C-2 zoned properties in the city;

• OK’d the payment of $6,252 in general dues for 2017 to the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, and took no action because of a lack of a motion to pay the CGMC an additional $1,212 in a voluntary assessment for the Environmental Action Fund;

• OK’d the On Sale Liquor renewal for 2 Gringos Grill for 2016-2017 pending receipt of proper fees and paperwork;

• Approved a resolution authorizing the city of Ely to apply and accept funds from the IRRRB Development Infrastructure Grant Program.