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Emery County Commission Hears Neighbors’ Noise, Trespass Complaints Against Wedding Venue; Item Tabled to June 11
Summary
Neighbors told the Emery County Planning Commission that weekend wedding events at a property operating as a venue since 2023 have caused repeated noise, trespass and privacy problems. The venue’s attorney asked for more time; the commission voted to table the matter to June 11 for more documentation and possible mediation.
A neighbor told the Emery County Planning Commission that a nearby property used as a wedding venue has disrupted weekend life in Orangeville-area neighborhoods and crossed the line from an Airbnb to an event center.
"Last year they happened every weekend over the course of like an 8 or 9 week period," a nearby resident told the commission, adding that the gatherings featured "loud, loud rave like music" and "grown men urinating along the fence line" that overlooked a children’s playset. The neighbor said the city’s conditional-use permit covered only short-term rental use, not a wedding venue, and that the city had declined to intervene because much of the activity occurs on county land.
Wayne Robert Cummings, an attorney representing the Ainsworth family, told the commission he had expected an informal mediation and asked that the item be postponed so the venue’s representatives could compile a fuller response. "We were unaware that it was gonna be a planning commission meeting with an item on the agenda," Cummings said, and asked to table the presentation to the commission’s June 11 meeting so his clients could provide contracts, a timeline of events, contractor testimony and photos.
Representatives for the venue said they have already taken steps to reduce impacts. They said they recently added a contractual requirement to limit or end music earlier, installed cameras, plan to use decibel meters to track sound levels, have a property manager within 20 minutes of the site to respond to problems and offered to pay 50% of the cost of a privacy fence. "We have put a system where it measures decibels," one venue representative said, and added that a wedding scheduled for June 7 had been canceled amid concerns.
After hearing both sides, the commission voted to table the presentation and asked both parties to provide written evidence and a clearer timeline ahead of the June 11 meeting. The commission also discussed whether county or city authorities had enforcement jurisdiction and encouraged participants to explore mediation resources.
What happens next: the commission asked the venue to submit its contract language, noise-monitoring data and other documentation and asked the neighbor to provide photos and incident dates. The commission will take up the item again on June 11 on an expanded record.
