Some Prince William County residents who live near Jiffy Lube Live are noticing the sound from performances is suddenly more noticeable this season. It’s even made it difficult for some people to get to sleep.
Kristen Escobar says she likes some musicians who perform at the outdoor music venue — but she doesn’t want to hear them when she’s trying to get to sleep so she can wake up at 4 a.m. for work.
"It's that constant thudding. It gives me a headache sometimes," she said. "I can deal with noise. I was in the Army; I know how to sleep through a lot, but that constant bass in your head when you are trying to relax …"
In a recording Escobar made on her back deck, the sound is not really loud, but there’s a constant reverberation. Inside the house, it's more of a steady hum in the background.
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This is the third summer Escobar, her husband and their 5-year-old daughter have lived in the Blackburn subdivision, several miles due east of Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia. But it wasn’t until this concert season she and some of her neighbors noticed the noise.
The local supervisor’s office also says they’ve recently received some complaints.
Prince William County police monitor sound levels at Jiffy Lube Live, measuring when the main act takes the stage. If it exceeds decibel limits, an adjustment is made, so it’s not that the music is getting louder.
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Escobar’s theory is that all the tree clearing for nearby data centers and other projects has removed a natural sound barrier. Thousands of trees that once stood between her home and Jiffy Lube Live are gone.
"I'm just so frustrated because I love my home. We’re blessed to have it. We worked hard for it. And I literally, that night, thought about -- we might have to move, because I can't wake up at 4 a.m. with four hours of sleep. just because of Jiffy Lube," she said.
Escobar's home is on the subdivision's edge. A neighbor who lives farther in doesn't hear the concert noise, but says he sympathizes.
"I've seen the comments on the Facebook that we have, so I step out to see if it's actually loud but I don't hear anything," Darwin Cornejo said.
Escobar wonders if there is a solution like some kind of sound barrier, but for now, she and others bothered by the noise will have to wait out the summer concert season.
News4 contacted Live Nation, which oversees Jiffy Lube Live, to see if the issue has been brought to their attention, but we have not heard back yet.
