Judge orders Forest Hills Stadium to track sound, control trespassers ahead of concert season
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A Queens judge ordered Forest Hills Stadium to monitor sound and control trespassing in the community days ahead of the first concert of 2024 and amid lawsuits. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
A Queens judge ordered the popular Forest Hills Stadium and its owner, the West Side Tennis Club, to monitor concert sound levels and control trespassing this concert season, granting relief to some Forest Hills residents who have complained of window-shaking noise and other nuisances stemming from the recently revived stadium.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Joseph Espostio ruled this week that ahead of the beginning of the 2024 concert season the stadium and its concert operator, Tiebreaker, need to keep tabs on the sound and crowd levels arguing that otherwise, the community could face “irreparable harm.”
The complaints had come from community members at the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, a private neighborhood where the stadium resides whose residents have long said concert noise and crowds have harmed their quiet quality of life.
Esposito’s ruling on the motion – the full case has yet to be ruled on – differs slightly from an injunction ruling in another Forest Hills Stadium case by Judge Robert Caloras, which fell more so on the side of the stadium and rejected a call from the petitioners in the separate case to postpone the start of the concert season until the case is resolved.
In Esposito’s ruling, the judge told the stadium it would have to obtain a sound permit from the NYPD, and further monitor sound levels through an independent noise monitoring organization approved by the court.
“The court finds that the plaintiff is entitled to a preliminary injunction prohibiting defendants from permitting excessive noise to emanate from the stadium,” court documents obtained by the Eagle read. “Plaintiff has demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits and established the prospect of irreparable harm if provisional relief is withheld.”
“The affidavit of plaintiffs expert wherein hc concluded that the noise complained of was approximately 100 times the legal limit for the residential neighborhood was unrebutted by competent proof, and the affidavits of the residents detailed the nightly assault on the quiet enjoyment of their respective homes,” the decision continued.
Residents have testified in court and through previous interviews with the Eagle that the concert noise from the stadium exceeds sound regulations resulting in shaking windows in residential homes.
Locals had also argued the crowds descending on the 13,000-capacity stadium have trespassed on their property and created dangerous road conditions, as well as damaged property through littering and public urination.
“As for the matter of trespass, the defendant is directed to create and implement a plan through the use of barricades that direct and further limit concertgoers' access to most residential areas,” Esposito said in his ruling. “Defendant is further directed to engage with security personnel operations to ensure that concertgoers follow the assigned route to enter and exit the stadium vicinity.”
However, Esposito denied an additional request from the FHGC requiring a plan to be made with the NYPD to avoid dangerous pedestrian and vehicle traffic conditions.
“This court will not usurp the function of a non-party, City of New York and/or its participating departments/divisions/enrities or advise it of its obligations to perform its duties in the instant matter,” the ruling read.
The Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, which was founded in 1909, applauded Esposito’s ruling.
“We’re appreciative that the court heard our concerns and made this decision,” Forest Hills Gardens Corporation Board of Directors President Anthony Oprisiu said in a statement.
“We look forward to working with West Side Tennis Club, Tiebreaker, city agencies, and City Hall to ensure 2024 events follow the law and demonstrate more respect towards our community while the remainder of this important lawsuit is resolved by the court.”
In his ruling, Espositio shot down arguments from the stadium, which included that concerts have operated there for years without complaint, and that noise is merely part of living in an urban city.
Esposito said that although concerts have been held at the venue for more than half a century, the number of concerts has steadily increased.
In their arguments, attorneys for the stadium and West Tennis Club said that "those who choose to reap the advantages of living in New York City must expect the impingement of that crowded society upon their life because 'some degree of noise, tension and discomfort' are 'inevitable' in an 'urban setting."'
Esposito called the argument out of place and inappropriate but the attorneys later defended it in a statement to the Eagle.
“The Forest Hills Stadium is an iconic venue that has always sought to minimize its impact on local residents and comply with the law throughout its one-hundred year history,” said Akiva Shapiro, attorney for West Side Tennis Club. “It will continue to do so in connection with the recent orders of Justices Esposito and Caloras of the Queens Supreme Court, and looks forward to the opportunity presented by the orders to implement a security plan that will ensure concertgoers’ entry and exit in an orderly manner, and to have an independent sound monitor report on Stadium sound levels. The stadium looks forward to hosting the fast-approaching concert season.”
Last week, Esposito’s judicial colleague ruled against a similar request for relief brought by the plaintiffs in another lawsuit known as Concerned Citizens of Forest Hills v. the West Side Tennis Club.
In his ruling, Caloras ruled that the defendants in the case had failed to prove the noise from the stadium was “unreasonable,” and pointed out differing results from sound monitors retained by both parties.
Caloras also argued that not all parties concerned with the matter were present in the suit, including the actual performing artists, who this year include Neil Young, Hozier and Kings of Leon.
In turn, Esposito distinguished Caloras’ case from his own, saying the relief requested differed, as did the parties involved.
“At the outset, Justice Caloras denied the motion for an injunction, in part, as necessary parties had not been joined,” court documents read. “Such argument was not advanced in the instant matter. Furthermore, here, plaintiff is not seeking to enjoin defendant from holding concerts or large scale events in 2024 until a plan is implemented; rather it is requesting that the noise level not exceed the standard in the Noise Code and that it be monitored. Moreover, the plaintiff in this action is requesting a plan to address any and all trespass.”
The concert season at Forest Hills begins officially with a concert on Saturday, May 4.
