A noise complaint threatens to put a Monterey establishment out of business.

You can listen to a car speeding by, the TV playing, a vacuum cleaner running or attorneys talking in Department 14 of Monterey County Superior Court. Any which way, you’re likely to hear sound in excess of 65 decibels.

That was the takeaway from a three-hour discussion about sound and how to measure it in Department 14 on Aug. 7, when Anthony Buich, co-owner of Bull & Bear Whiskey Bar and Taphouse, was on trial. At issue was whether Buich had exceeded 65 decibels – the judge determined that yes, he had – and in this case, whether Buich was in contempt of court, “a quasi-criminal matter in which defendants may be fined and/or imprisoned.”

Here’s how it started: Saucito Land Company, which owns the adjacent building, sued Bull & Bear on June 1, 2017, arguing the noisy venue was making Saucito’s residential tenants unhappy and depriving the company of rent.

Facing six-figure damages for that allegedly uncollected rent, Buich settled with Saucito. As part of the settlement, signed in March, Bull & Bear installed a sound monitor, meant to ping an on-duty manager with an alert for every 15-minute interval that the sound exceeded 65 decibels.

There’s no way to run a bar, with or without live music, and not exceed 65 decibels. For that matter, you probably can’t even run a court hearing over whether the bar exceeded 65 decibels without exceeding it – that’s how disconnected from reality the city of Monterey’s noise ordinance is.

The monitor was installed in April, and the noise alerts started coming right away – more than 100 of them over 56 hours on 15 nights, or “at least 90 percent of the time,” according to court papers filed by Saucito.

So the company took Buich to court again, this time arguing he was in contempt of court for violating the settlement. That’s when a sound system technician and engineer spent hours explaining the finer points of decibel measurements, with Bull & Bear’s attorneys making a desperate effort to prove the loud noise could’ve come from anywhere – the street, a nearby residence – and not the bar.

Monterey County Superior Court Judge Marla Anderson wasn’t buying it, and found Buich in contempt. She didn’t order jail time, but did order him to pay the maximum fine of $1,000 per day of violation, for a total of $15,000, and told Saucito’s attorneys they are also entitled to collect attorney’s fees. They have until Oct. 10 to pay.

While there’s hope City Council will revisit its puritanical noise ordinance, it likely won’t be fast enough to help Bull & Bear. Buich is rallying supporters to speak up about it at the Planning Commission’s next meeting, Tuesday, Aug. 14, and City Council is likely to revisit its noise ordinance in the coming months, according to Mayor Clyde Roberson and City Manager Hans Uslar.

“If this community feels 65 decibels is appropriate, that will be a community decision,” Uslar says. “It will be up to the community and council to define a reasonable noise level.”

For a city that’s invested heavily in its downtown, 65 decibels is not reasonable. Saucito’s building is mixed-use, with stores on the ground floor and apartments above it. People moving into a downtown should expect it to sound like a downtown.

In the meantime, Buich has to decide what to do – this weekend, and longer term. If he opens the patio at all and dozens of smokers and their friends go out there – no music, either live or recorded – he’ll be in violation of the court order. Will he open without the 120-person-capacity patio? He’s not sure, but he knows that keeping the place open without a patio long-term is untenable: “It’s impossible, absolutely impossible.”

In the moments after the judge’s ruling, one of Buich’s attorneys, Michael Masuda, told Saucito Land Company’s attorney he thinks the ruling marks the end for Bull & Bear, and bankruptcy might be next.

Buich has been trying to sell the business, having seen the writing on the wall. He says one prospective buyer was ready to pay the asking price of $989,000, then learned about the lawsuit and backed away.

“They literally laughed and said good luck,” Buich says. “It’s on the market because of this, but why would anyone buy it because of this?”

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com