​Miami's 24-hour nightclubs face-off against residents and noise complaints

Miami residents are set to face-off against three 24-hour nightclubs at an upcoming hearing where each venue will look to dismiss citations relating to noise violations, according to the Miami Herald.

Club Space, Heart Nightclub and E11even, all operate in the vicinity of Biscayne Boulevard where local residents are seeking to put an end to the 24-hour events that take place on the clubs’ rooftops and terraces.

Allan Schwartz, a resident at the Marquis building located a few blocks away from the clubs, says club owners are disrespecting residents by not abiding by noise laws: “We expected city noise when we bought or rented apartments in the entertainment district, but we did not expect the law to be broken 52 weekends a year… [Heart] continues unabated to stick its finger in the eye of residents when all of this is cured by turning a knob.”

Noise complaints used to rarely be enforced on weekends because code compliance officers were not on duty and police could not issue such citations. This year however, authorities assigned staff to a midnight shift to deal with growing concerns from residents.

E11even has since restricted its rooftop sessions, but the club’s owners are still fighting the noise complaints. Their attorney, Louis J. Terminello, says the citations were not issued properly: “It was not noise that penetrated into a dwelling. It has to disturb a resident’s dwelling or hotel room and the officers were not up inside the residences so we believe these tickets were issued in error.”

Michael Slyder, CFO of Heart and president of the Miami Entertainment District Association, is looking to work with residents on this issue, but also wants to make it clear that the city invited the venues to invest in this specific location in 2000 when the area was much less populated.

All three clubs received the $500 citations during Memorial Day weekend. If more than two violations are filed, authorities can suspend business licenses.