For almost two decades, Barbara Pitts lived quietly with her husband in their home in the heart of Justin's lazy business district.
Now, live bands playing at a sports bar 224 feet from the home on Sealy Avenue are rattling their peace."The walls just vibrate and I can't go to sleep," said Pitts, who has black mold lung disease and must strap a respirator mask to her face when she goes out in public because of a sensitivity to perfume and cigarette smoke."It's a very emotional situation for us," she said, "not only because of the noise from the bar but because of the way we've been treated."What happened to the dreamy little town of Justin? In a decade, it has doubled in population, to 3,429, and it stands to benefit from tax revenue generated by the Mule Barn Sports Bar & Grill,say the mayor, the mayor's wife, some City Council members and some of Pitts' neighbors, who say they don't believe that the bar poses any nuisance.Accusations are flying, and the issue has divided neighbors, friends and city leaders, causing a slew of hurt feelings, residents say.Pitts and city leaders faced off Friday in the Fort Worth offices of the State Office of Administrative Hearings as officials with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission considered the couple's contention that excessive noise is reason enough to pull the bar's liquor license."We should not be here," said Debbie Scott, wife of Justin Mayor Greg Scott. "It should have never gone this far. There are just these factions who want Justin to be the sleepy little town that it used to be, and it can't be and it won't be."By early afternoon, no hearing had taken place, but the two parties said they had come up with an informal agreement after three hours of negotiations with the commission. The state is expected to renew Mule Barn's two-year liquor license if owners comply with the pact's conditions.Mark Threadgill, an attorney for the bar's owners, said he wanted to review the final agreement before commenting, but his clients will likely be required to keep noise levels at 60 to 70 decibels during certain periods of the day or night. That would mean commission officials would monitor noise levels at the bar over the next two years.Commission attorney Lisa Crissman declined to comment further Friday. But Crissman said a formal agreement will be made public in about a week or two.Pitts and several supporters, including Councilwoman Diane Rasor, said they would wait to see the agreement before commenting.To owners Amy and Dakon Doggett, the decibel conditions didn't appear to be a problem. A new city ordinance had already required that bar noise be capped at 85 decibels, about the sound of heavy traffic near a busy roadway. That ordinance is similar to Roanoke's, city leaders said.But small decreases in sound levels can have a big effect: A decibel level of 80 is 10 times louder than 70.Escalating disputeThe Doggetts opened Lonesome Spur Restaurant in 2007 in a 20,000-square-foot facility in the heart of town that over decades has served as a salvage store, motorcycle shop, wedding reception hall and tractor repair facility.Two years later, after voters permitted alcohol sales, Mule Barn opened in an unoccupied area of the same facility.After Pitts notified the Doggetts that the sound was a nuisance, they said, they stopped the band music at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, limiting it to only two hours each night. The couple also paid to install special acoustic foam on the west walls to muffle noise.The Doggetts said they also try to be good neighbors by supporting the community with golf fundraisers and donations to schools and civic groups."It's a shame it has come to this point," Dakon Doggett said. "It has gotten to the point that no matter what we do, we can't make them happy."As the dispute has heated up, some have accused the owners of not maintaining proper occupancy permits, though the mayor disputes that. (The Doggetts say they have proper fire and occupancy permits.)Constables from Denton have been summoned to measure decibel levels. (The town also later bought its own equipment.)Even the town's police chief, Bill Brooks, has caught flak. Some residents say he is in cahoots with the owners, who pay him for serving as a "bouncer."But the chief says the complaints are groundless. He says he and his deputies can work off-duty at the bar to ensure public safety, as law officers in other cities do.He said he will make sure that he or any of his deputies will be recused from any overlap in an investigation.Critics say the bar could have been located away from the town's residential district."We had a bar out three, four miles, J-Bar, and people could howl at the moon and nobody heard and nobody cared," said Blair Seely, a Justin resident of 40 years. "This is simply an act of disrespect ... and it all could be fixed."Problem is, in Justin, which is about 2.2 square miles, the business and residential district are basically one and the same.Yamil Berard, 817-390-7705Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
