The D.C. Council is considering a bill that would institute new soundproofing standards for buildings near entertainment and music venues, following years of tension over how to deal with music and noise in public space. These tensions have been especially acute in gentrifying neighborhoods, where new residents in noisy corridors have been quick to complain.

The bill, titled the “Harmonious Living Amendment Act of 2021,” sets standards for soundproofing for new residential construction in areas of the city where entertainment and nightlife is concentrated. The proposed standards for soundproofing are highest for new buildings within 300 feet of a performance venue. According to the bill’s sponsors, the District does not currently have any soundproofing standards for building exteriors.

The bill would also create a grant program that would help entertainment venues with soundproofing, create tax incentives for buildings to retroactively soundproof, and commission a study on how to best accommodate public performances in the city’s outdoor spaces. The bill would also require that residential buildings in areas with entertainment venues start informing new renters or buyers about “long-established cultural institutions” nearby.

Supporters of the legislation say it will help address the issue of noise complaints by placing the responsibility for noise control on new development, instead of punishing D.C.’s Black culture and homegrown music.

For years, local musicians in D.C. have been protesting approaches to noise control that they say threaten their presence in the city’s public spaces and accelerate cultural displacement. They have opposed the Amplified Noise Amendment Act, a bill that seeks to limit the volume of sound in the city’s public spaces—and which D.C. Councilmembers have introduced in several different forms over the past several years, including during this session.

In 2019, the local conversation around sound in public space reached another inflection point after an apparent complaint from a nearby resident led to the silencing of go-go music outside the Metro PCS storefront in Shaw. In response, local artists and activists launched a viral online campaign and brought thousands into D.C.’s streets for the series of outdoor concerts dubbed Moechella, which continues to this day.

Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, who introduced the bill, says it was inspired by this local activism. Her team reached out some of the organizers behind the movements, like longtime local activist and #DontMuteDC organizer Ron Moten and Moechella organizer Justin “Yaddiya” Johnson, for their feedback. And she says the bill was crafted in collaboration with a working group of local artists, music venues, and organizations like Listen Local First DC.

“These are leaders who have seen culture in the District of Columbia really get pushed from neighborhood to neighborhood as they’ve gentrified, and for performers to get pushed out the same way that residents have as part of gentrification,” says Nadeau. “And so what my bill is seeking to do is say we’ve already seen too much of that. And I wanted to really put a stake in the ground that said this music should remain, these performers should have the opportunity to be here. This is what makes our neighborhood so special and vibrant.”

Nadeau introduced the bill along with At-large Councilmember Christina Henderson, Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, and Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto. (Pinto is also one of the Councilmembers who recently introduced this year’s iteration of the Amplified Noise Amendment Act.)

According to the bill’s sponsors and supporters, it takes a different approach than the Amplified Noise Amendment Act, which proposes fines for people who refuse to turn down amplified noise in the city’s public spaces. Instead, the new bill adopts the “Agent of Change” principle, which the government of London has used to address tension between residential development and music venues. According to the principle, the onus of soundproofing should fall on the new development entering a neighborhood—whether that’s a new apartment building adjacent to a music venue or entertainment corridor, or a new music venue entering a neighborhood with residential buildings.

It’s an approach that advocates for local music say they have been pushing for since as early as 2016, according to a statement of support for the bill issued by the D.C. Music Stakeholders Coalition on Thursday.

“DC’s vibrant local arts and music culture is its heart and soul,” wrote Sandra Basanti, owner of H Street’s Pie Shop, in the statement. The bakery, which is also a local music venue, has dealt with drama over noise complaints in recent years. “Preserving and promoting the soul of our city in the face of big money developers is imperative. In order for both to coexist, measures must be taken to ensure that who we are at our core isn’t constantly under attack.”

WeAct Radio co-founder Kymone Freeman wrote in the statement that he appreciated that the legislation “places the economic burden of providing suburban amenities to new residents where it belongs”—a reference to the idea that many new residents enter cities with the mindset that their neighborhood should accommodate their personal preference for quiet over its existing culture.

Freeman added that the bill was a “great first step towards a retention plan for longtime DC residents while celebrating the value of art and culture.”

Eric Jones, a vice-president for government affairs at the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington, says that his family has lived in the city for generations and he feels connected to the issue of cultural displacement. Still, he wishes his organization had gotten a chance to weigh in more during the crafting of the bill.

“We’re excited that the Council is taking up issues that are important to the residents of the District,” says Jones. “We just wish we had more of a part in crafting the legislation.”

Jones wondered whether the new regulations would impose too much of a burden on developers, as opposed to individual residents who should be aware that they’re moving into potentially loud neighborhoods.

“I think we have to have that delicate balance,” says Jones. “If you’re at 7th and U or you’re at 9th and U or 11th and Florida Avenue … you’re in areas that have high traffic, high noise. So while you should have the ability to have a somewhat peaceful existence in your home, you also have to understand that you moved into an entertainment corridor.”

Nadeau says this concern is the reason why the bill institutes a requirement for buildings in entertainment corridors to notify new renters and buyers about the neighborhoods they’re moving into and the level of expected sound and entertainment activity.

“Perhaps it should be the responsibility of the people who move into the neighborhood to understand what they’re getting into, but my experience as a Ward 1 Councilmember is that that has not been happening,” says Nadeau. “One of the things that I do every day is work to resolve conflicts in public space, to ensure that the needs of different populations in my Ward are respected and addressed. And I think this bill does that.”