Cities all over the country have been adopting noise ordinances, recognizing that excess noise affects physical and mental health. Grand Marais did the opposite when the city council members passed an ordinance that gave a couple of businesses permission to make unlimited noise for the majority of every day. This was passed despite the objections of the many people who attended the hearings.
Grand Marais used to be a town where tourists and residents could enjoy the quiet, peaceful beauty of our town and Lake Superior. Now we have earsplitting noise from the seaplane during the day and loud, amplified music from Gunflint Tavern most evenings. In our house we spent the hot nights this summer with our windows closed and radio turned up to try to block the noise from the Tavern.
We spent a summer in Alaska where one in 60 residents has a pilot license. No plane we saw was nearly as noisy as this one plane in Grand Marais. It makes me wonder if it is part of the show for his customers.
I read the solution in the letters to editor: “Stay in the city where they built something on every square inch.” This is the city I grew up in. Prior to 1900 my great-grandfather’s home was one block from where I live. I live in the house my father built in 1936. I don’t have the luxury of “enjoying the noise” and then going to a quiet home out of Grand Marais or to the BWCAW. I have the right to complain.
A small amount of compromise could accommodate both the noise lovers and the quiet lovers. The bar owners can either turn off the amplifiers or move their bands inside and their customers would still have the music. The seaplane owner should either find a way to control the noise of his plane or conduct his business from a seaplane base. If not, our city council needs to put the wishes of tax paying residents and quiet-loving tourists above those of three businessmen’s choices of income production.
Nancy Nosker
Grand Marais
Leave a Reply