Dear Neighbours,

There has been overwhelming support of our cause. We have been advised by Councillor Linda Scott that "The decision on this development application will be undertaken by the City’s planning staff or the independent planning panel appointed by the state government, not elected Councillors"

It will likely be many months before this is heard.

As neighbours, what can we do in the interim?

Below is an extract of an acoustic report commissioned by our friends at The Revy. It details:

1. Issues with the DA modification
2. Current breaches by Doltone House at Jones Bay Wharf.

Please email darlingislandaction@gmail.com for details on how you can protect the RIGHTS, AMENITY and VALUE of your building.

1. Significant issues with the DA modification
   
   a) Acoustic Logic (ALC) engaged by Doltone House have a history of technical errors in their reports.
   
   b) An internal level of 91 dBA (90th percentile) for music and patrons is stated, but that is significantly below the level that what young people wish to dance to with a DJ. It is also far below the level of a typical live contemporary band, if it were to be a mini Doltone.
    
   c) On p 17, ALC claim that increasing the patrons from 102 to 130 makes only 1 dB increase. They don’t understand the noise-begets-noise mechanism that occurs in restaurants, resulting from the human-hearing reaction called the Lombard effect. 
   
   d) ALC hasn’t described how noise will propagate from the venue to the Revy, nor do they state how the noise from both internal and external patrons has been calculated.
    
2.  Non-compliance with DA at Jones Bay Wharf
   
   a) Comparison of LA10 noise levels with the criteria shows that the noise from Doltone House exceeds the criteria by between 2 dB and 11 dB at frequencies above 63 Hz
   
   b) Analysis showed that the low frequency music noise in the 63 Hz band was between 4 dB and 6 dB above the criteria in the 63 Hz band.
   
   c) Measured LA10 level inside the bedroom was 41 dBA with the window opened by 150 mm. This is a high level for a bedroom and is likely to cause distress to people trying to sleep.
   
   d) Analysis Plan of Management (POM) prepared by Doltone House on the 21st October 2020 (Rev 04)
   
   Part 1 Purpose: Paragraph No 4
   Doltone House will continually strive to minimise the impact on the local community of the events it hosts and is committed to continuing to improve the management and control of noise that emanates from its venue. In this regard, Doltone House will continue to learn from events that it holds and may from time to time request the Department of Planning Industry and Environment to approve updates of this PoM with a view to improving its management of events and the control of noise associated with them.
   
   These are lofty ideals which are not being fulfilled. A simple visit to the foreshore beside The Revy and a noise measurement would inform Doltone House that they are contravening their noise conditions.
   
   e) Part 6 Capacity of the Premises: Paragraph No 23No more than 100 persons shall be seated for dining on the open Upper Deck (refer to Attachment 2) of the premises at any time.
   
   No mention is made of patrons who have temporarily come outside during a function inside the building and standing or sitting on the open deck; i.e., patrons who are not dining.