The Night Cat Needs $60,000 To Beat a Noise Complaint – From a Building That Doesn’t Exist

Fitzroy’s Johnston & Napier hasn’t been built yet. The 10-storey apartment block doesn’t even have a planning permit. But that hasn’t stopped the developer from taking nearby live music institution The Night Cat to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), with claims it’s consistently exceeding noise limits.

The two parties met at the tribunal less than a fortnight ago. In support of its claim, the developer presented four sets of acoustic reports collected by three separate consultants between October 2023 and April 2024. It argued that even though its non-existent building isn’t impacted, The Night Cat’s noise output is “substantial” and poses “a risk and harm to the community”.

VCAT deputy president Teresa Bisucci sided with the developer in her decision, writing that The Night Cat had breached the conditions of its permit and there was “no other logical conclusion”.

In response, The Night Cat owner Justin Stanford has launched a $60,000 Go Fund Me to save the venue, which has been in business since 1994.

“I think it’s going to be fine,” Stanford tells Broadsheet. “We’ve done most of the soundproofing we can possibly do on the building. We’ve got an acoustic roof installed, and airlocks front and back. But there’s some sound leaking from the toilet windows – we need to seal those up and build these 10-metre-long attenuation tunnels for the exhaust fans to pump the air out of the bathrooms without pumping any bass waves out.

“With that additional soundproofing and the right monitoring equipment, we’re really confident we’ll be able to turn it up as loud as we like and it’ll still be contained within the building and keep us 100 per cent in line with our planning permit. My landlord has been fantastic, he’s 100 per cent behind me.”

In the meantime, The Night Cat’s sound system has been tuned to be less bassy. “The issue is at 63 hertz. We’re producing too much 63 hertz,” Stanford says. “That’s the fun frequencies that hit you on the chest when you’re on the dance floor.”

Protections for Victoria’s live music venues were strengthened in September 2014 when the government introduced the “agent of change” principle. It compels new residential developments within 50 metres of an existing live music venue to take appropriate soundproofing measures. Similarly, if a venue wants to change or expand, it’s responsible for reducing any additional noise caused.

Despite this, venues are still bound to keep noise below defined limits enforced by the EPA. Figuring out how much noise a particular venue makes is a complex calculation involving multiple frequencies and measurement locations. But according to the developer’s acoustic consultants, The Night Cat has been exceeding the limits.

In a separate but closely related case, the developer of Johnston & Napier will soon take on the City of Yarra at VCAT. The council previously rejected the building’s planning application, which the developer hopes to reverse. The council is expected to further oppose the application on the grounds that Johnston & Napier’s current design has insufficient soundproofing that would put further pressure on The Night Cat.