Pasadena Church Point: Complaints from neighbours lead to noise, disturbance investigation

A noise war between residents on secluded Scotland Island and a well-known restaurant on the northern beaches mainland has come to a head after claims the venue was causing “excessive noise” and impacting residents’ “quality of life”.

Pasadena owner Paul Peterkin at the Church Point location. Picture: Adam Yip.

A noise war between residents on secluded Scotland Island and a well-known restaurant on the northern beaches mainland has come to a head after claims the venue was causing “excessive noise” and impacting residents’ “quality of life”.

Liquor and Gaming has imposed strict licensing conditions on the waterfront Pasadena restaurant and function venue at Church Point in response to a string of noise and disturbance gripes from residents living within earshot of the site.

The venue sits on the northern tip of Church Point on the Pittwater foreshore and has a long history on the northern beaches, opening as a roadhouse in 1935.

At time of publication, the venue has a function centre and accommodation facilities alongside the licensed restaurant – trading from 10am to midnight with a capacity of 400 people.

A majority of complaints came from residents living some 500m away on Scotland Island which is only able to be accessed by boat and is geographically separated from the venue by Pittwater.

An aerial photo of Scotland Island and Church Point.

The official complaint to Liquor and Gaming – made by 27 residents – largely centred on the sound of music and patron noise from functions and weddings they described as “affecting their quality of life”.

Some of the alleged anti-social patron behaviour including claims of patrons fighting outside the venue, loud shouting, skylarking, public urination, and patrons partying post-midnight in rooms and on balconies above the venue.

One resident stated that since the venue reopened post-Covid it has been “hosting a backlog of functions which has increased the frequency of disturbance”.

Pasadena overlooks Pittwater.

Another resident meanwhile claimed the music was so loud they were able to use the ‘Shazam’ mobile app from their home at 11.15pm to identify songs being played.

The venue – in its written response to Liquor and Gaming – denied it has breached noise conditions and argued the complaints were partly a result of the venue’s unique location, rather than any breach of its licensing requirements.

“Sound travels further over water than it does over land, however that does not mean the sound emanating from the venue is unreasonable,” the venue stated.

The venue has a long history on the northern beaches.

“Sound is something that every waterfront home puts up with or accepts due to the trade-off of living in a waterfront property

“(Residents) have been acting under the misapprehension that they are entitled to silence.”

Pasadena’s response also noted the venue has traded since the 1930s and that residents should have expected a level of noise when buying into the locality.

The venue hosts events such as functions and weddings.

Liquor and Gaming’s executive director of regulatory operations and enforcement Jane Lin – in assessing the complaints – noted the venue’s compliance history which has included a previous warning and a penalty notice for breaching noise conditions.

In her decision, Ms Lin found there was “sufficient evidence to conclude that the Venue has regularly unduly disturbed the quiet and good order of the neighbourhood”.

“The venue must accept it is a waterfront property and must adopt reasonable measures to ensure it does not cause undue disturbance in the context of its geographical location,” Ms Lin said.

An aerial view of Scotland Island.

“While residents should not expect silence from the venue, the evidence before me shows that the level of disturbance being experienced by residents is beyond what would reasonably be expected from the venue in its context.

“There are no sound barriers between the venue and neighbouring residences on Scotland Island, and the acoustically reflective nature of the water requires the venue to take more care of the noise it creates.”

Ms Lin imposed a condition on the venue’s licence requiring all amplified music and the use of any sound system to cease by 11pm.

Pasadena owner Paul Peterkin.

The venue will also have to ensure all amplifiers or noise generating equipment is under the control of a noise limiter, as well as ensuring all doors and windows to the restaurant are closed when entertainment is associated with functions are provided.

Melanie Marshall, who has lived on Scotland Island for 25 years, said noise from the venue has been a perennial talking point among the island’s residents.

“A lot of residents are affected because the venue has a lot of functions, weddings, and end of school year events,” she said.

“The noise travels straight over the water and for young families trying to get kids to sleep it’s tough.

“While I’m not personally impacted, it’s very noisy and there’s been a lot of complaints over the years.”

Pasadena owner Paul Peterkin said the venue has taken steps to adopt the new licensing conditions imposed by Liquor and Gaming including banning amplified music after 11pm.

Mr Peterkin said the complaint process has been “onerous” and maintains residents should expect some level of noise from the venue's operations.

“There shouldn’t be an expectation of zero noise given we’ve been here since 1931,” he said.

“The whole noise complaint process has been challenging – it’s been a very expensive process and as a venue we’ve had to cover all our own legal costs and noise testing.

“We stand by what we do and it’s not as though we’re operating as a pub or club. It’s a family-friendly venue.”