Woman makes noise about neighborhood attraction

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - The Hitt Event Center has been focusing on weddings and quinceñeras during the summer, and dance parties in the winter for 10 years now. While many guests enjoy the festivities, those across the street have a different perspective.

"It's just awful. You can't sleep because you hear the boom, boom, boom, all my night long," said event center neighbor, Vickie Stewart.

Stewart has been living across the street from the event center for the last three years. She says she's made several calls to the City, law enforcement, and planning and zoning trying to get what she claims to be a noise issue resolved.

"I don't care what they play there. I just don't want to hear it. I want them to contain the music to their building like they're supposed to," Stewart said.

Bonneville County City Planning and Zoning assistant planner, Michelle Hagen, tell us the event center doesn't have to maintain a certain noise level based on their contract. But if the noise does become a nuisance, the situation is handled by the Sheriff's Office.

Sgt. Bryan Lovell of the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office says deputies responded to more than 20 different types of disturbances there in 2019.

"Those are a wide variety of circumstances and I wouldn't be able to tell you whether that's more or less than any other business at that time," Lovell said.

Jessie Avila owns the center, he tells us he's tried to resolve the issues by buying a sound level meter to monitor the noise and ending the event well before the curfew.

"I do understand as I said, I tried working with them. The curfew is at 2, o'clock, I can go all the way to 2 o'clock, and as long as I stop at two o'clock then it's fine, but I personally made it clear just to help them out a little bit, that I was going to try to keep it until 1 AM. Then we'd be cleaning up, there wouldn't be any more noise," Avila said.

Avila says he will continue to do what he can to make his neighbors comfortable.