Feb 13, 2008 By Christine Haines 4 min read

The chairman of the East Bethlehem Township Commissioners will be heading to church Thursday evening to hear for himself whether the praise and worship band at Calvary Chapel is violating the township’s noise ordinance. Some of the church’s neighbors, Pam Morosky, her husband, Red, and their son Shawn, attended Monday’s township commissioners meeting to complain about noise from the teen band.

“They have started a rock band and the music goes from 5 until sometimes 10 p.m. Those drums are driving me crazy. We want it to stop,” Pam Morosky said.

Her son said the music is loud enough that he can’t carry on a telephone conversation in his living room. He said he has suggested that the church be soundproofed.

“I don’t think we’re asking the kids to stop or the rock groups to stop, just to tone it down,” Shawn Morosky said.

Pastor John Thomas noted that programs at the church generally do not go past 9 p.m., and the bands play for church services, with the praise and worship portion of the service on Thursdays ending at 7:30 p.m.

“We don’t have rock bands, we have worship bands,” Thomas said. “I believe we are following all the restrictions within the ordinance.”

Thomas said that when the building was renovated to become a church, the walls were insulated.

“We have carpeting on the walls to help deaden the sound more,” Thomas said.

Thomas noted that the ordinance restricts noise levels to 75 decibels and acoustical consultant Greg Vizza, who attends Calvary Chapel of Fredericktown, said the volume outside the sanctuary is less than half that level.

“That doesn’t mean you aren’t going to hear it, but it’s so low, you have to make a judgment whether it’s disturbing or not,” Vizza said.

Paul Battaglini, chairman of the commissioners, said he would like to hear for himself.

“I’m going down there Thursday and I invite the other commissioners to come too,” Battaglini said.

Vizza noted that train traffic on the nearby railroad tracks probably generates about 90 decibels of noise. Vizza also said that additional insulation would absorb sound within the room, but it would not keep it from penetrating the walls.

Thomas said the church has outgrown the current building and is in the process of considering a new design that would have classrooms surrounding the sanctuary, providing an additional sound barrier in the future.

Pam Morosky also complained about children playing basketball on the Calvary Christian School playground late at night. She said use of the playground by the school during the day is not a problem.

“I can understand about the noise level. Even if I didn’t attend there, I would say this: we have a lot of kids there. I would rather have them there than out on the street doing drugs or whatever,” said township resident Laura Kinder.

Kinder noted that teens from the neighborhood are often the ones playing basketball late at night, not members of the church youth group.

“If you could possibly get some of the other children off the streets, it would be a blessing to us,” Battaglini said.

Thomas said he has asked Pam Morosky to call him when she sees teens on the playground late at night and he will go to the playground and ask them to leave.

“It’s every night. I’m not going to call you every night,” Pam Morosky said.

Battaglini suggested that the church lock up the playground at night to prevent trespassing. Thomas said the church would look into that, but anyone intent on getting into the playground would most likely not be deterred by the six-foot fence that is around it.

In other matters, the commissioners voted to suspend payment to Kim Secreet, who receives $250 a month from the township so serve as the animal control officer. The township has received a number of complaints that Secreet has refused to pick up dogs in the Vestaburg area of the township.

It was also reported that the township’s Internet Web site has been updated. Township information can be found at http://ebtownship.blogware.com/.