Neighbors want Forest Hills Stadium to turn down the volume at concerts

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Forest Hills Stadium capped off its concert season earlier this month with a three-night electronic dance festival that literally shook the surrounding neighborhood.

Christopher Jaray, 46, said he had an unwanted front row seat to the show.

โ€œIt was like the scene from โ€˜Jurassic Parkโ€™ when the dinosaurs are coming. You see the water start to shake,โ€ said Jaray, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood who lives across the street from the historic venue. โ€œI could be inside my house. I could be outside my house. It doesnโ€™t matter. It feels like Iโ€™m on the stage.โ€

The sold-out blowout โ€” headlined by the DJ Fred Again โ€” ended a season where Forest Hills Stadium celebrated its 100th anniversary. Jaray and other neighbors said the music โ€” replete with throbbing bass โ€” made the outdoor stadium louder than ever.

According to city records, the Department of Environmental Protection has issued seven โ€œunreasonable noiseโ€ violations against Forest Hills Stadium in the past two years.

Now, the DEP told Gothamist it is working with the stadium’s operators on noise mitigation. At the cityโ€™s request, the venue has hired an acoustic consultant to install noise-muffling devices. Those measures come eight years after the stadium operator implemented $500,000-worth of noise suppression measures, including a concrete fence and stairway covers.

โ€œWe certainly understand the concerns of the residents and are taking them very seriously. We are working closely with the promoter to come up with real solutions and hope to improve things significantly ahead of next concert season,โ€ DEP spokesperson Edward Timbers said.

Meanwhile, the Forest Hills Garden Corporation โ€” which runs the gated community abutting the stadium โ€” filed a Queens Supreme Court lawsuit in May seeking to end the concerts entirely. The suit argues that the stadium is both a public and private nuisance. The group alleges the venue also shouldn’t be permitted to hold concerts โ€” because it…

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