WESTBROOK — The concert promoter at Rock Row promised residents Monday they would be “pleasantly surprised” by the noise impact of the next concert at Maine Savings Pavilion.

More than 50 residents met with Waterfront Concerts and Rock Row officials at the Westbrook Community Center to discuss noise control before the second show at the pavilion this Saturday. During the first concert, May 26, around 200 noise complaints were made to Portland and Westbrook police and Rock Row’s compliance officer.

“I am livid,” Jennifer Silverman, who lives on Colonial Road in Cumberland Mills, said at the meeting. “I heard the concert all through my house, it was loudest between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.”

Complaint calls came in from several neighborhoods, including Prides Corner and the Back Cove area in Portland.

Jon Dow, general manager of Waterfront Concerts, said mitigation steps have been taken and with time the noise impact will improve.

“We had sound monitors throughout neighborhoods to get these data points,” Dow said. “I think you all will be pleasantly surprised this weekend with how much quieter it will be.”

Reggae-rock artists Slightly Stoopid, Matisyahu and Tribal Seeds are scheduled to perform at 7 p.m. June 15.

Possible fixes include repositioning amplifiers, Dow said, as well as getting to know the atmospheric conditions that carry sound and adjusting accordingly.

“There will be bass, which we can’t stop, but that is a side effect of living in a growing community,” Dow said.

Some residents, even on the same road as neighbors who complained, said they didn’t hear any concert noise.

“We live on Colonial Road, right next to (Silverman),” Rick Todd said. “We didn’t hear anything.”

To measure the sound impact from the concert outside of the venue, monitors were installed. Sites include Colonial and Bridgton roads, the Westbrook Housing Authority and Westbrook City Hall, and in Portland on Glen Haven Road.

The Westbrook Planning Board, when it approved Maine Savings Pavilion concerts, said noise levels could not exceed 55 decibels outside of the venue, and officials say the May 26 concert did not go over that limit.

“Throughout the concert, we were in compliance with the code,” said Rock Row public liaison Lynda Adams, a former City Councilor who resigned from her post to take the liaison job.

The board also set time limits for shows at 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends.

“The concert got to its loudest later in the night,” Silverman said.

According to many of the residents, the noise on Memorial Day weekend continued until 11 p.m.

That show, featuring artists Thundercat, Anderson .Paak and Earl Sweatshirt, was able to end at 11 p.m. because of the holiday weekend, Dow said.

To collect more data, Rock Row is planning to introduce mobile sound monitors. It has also hired more noise compliance officers to log the complaints, and increased voicemail capacity.

“The idea is that if we receive a lot of calls from a neighborhood we did not expect, we can send out the monitors,” Adams said.

Project partner Mark Guzzetta added that once Rock Row develops additional buildings, noise will not carry as far. Around this time next year, Rock Row expects to be finished constructing the first phase of the plan, which includes a Market Basket store and Starbucks.

Buildings can act like noise barriers, Guzzetta said.

The next neighborhood meeting will be held at 6 p.m. July 8 at the Westbrook Community Center.

“Our hope is to keep working with the community until these meetings are unattended,” Dow said.

Chance Viles can be reached at 780-9092 or cviles@theforecaster.net. Follow Chance on Twitter: @chanceviles.

Westbrook resident Ken Capron asks a question about the noise level at concerts at Maine Savings Pavilion during a packed neighborhood meeting Monday night at Westbrook Community Center.

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