The La Tulipe performance hall, an institution on Papineau Avenue, may have to cease its activities due to repeated complaints filed by a neighbor, indisposed by the noise. The owners of the former Variety Theater will find themselves in court next week to defend themselves against a request for an injunction.
The managers of the performance hall appealed for help Tuesday to the attention of the mayor Valérie Plante and the mayor of Plateau-Mont-Royal, Luc Rabouin, in a message on Twitter, calling for their intervention.
A few years ago, the neighboring building that once housed the warehouses of Gilles Latulippe’s company was sold and, for two years, complaints of excessive noise have followed one another, relates Claude Larivée, CEO of the Tribu , which manages the performance hall. “We started to have police visits for noise complaints, visits accompanied by tickets of $ 1000,” said Mr. Larivée, in an interview with the Duty. Police visits took place during shows, including last weekend during Dumas’s performance, as well as during afternoon rehearsals, he said. “When the police give orders to the sound engineer to lower the volume in the middle of a performance, with the public in the room, we agree that it is quite strange. “
The owners of the performance hall say they are “at the end of their rope and resources” after spending large sums on fees to defend themselves following “dozens” of police visits.
According to Mr. Larivée, the City of Montreal would have authorized “by mistake” a change of use, from commercial to residential, of the premises next to the theater. The managers of La Tulipe will have to appear in court on December 21 following the filing of an injunction request filed by the neighbor. “This request for an injunction could mean that we should close La Tulipe when we are the victims of an administrative problem,” says Claude Larivée. “We find ourselves in a situation which is clearly untenable. “
Discussions with the City, both on the administrative and political side, have not made it possible to resolve the impasse, adds Mr. Larivée. “It is still a building classified by the Ministry of Culture, both inside and outside and which can only be used for the presentation of shows. “
Claude Larivée believes that he had no choice but to make this situation public. “You will bear the odds of this closure due to a blunder by the municipal administration and your inertia in the file. You have talked a lot about culture and nightlife in the past year, ”write the owners of La Tulipe in their message to Mayor Plante and Mayor of Plateau, Luc Rabouin.
La Tribu acquired the former Variety Theater almost 20 years ago, a building dedicated to entertainment since 1913. The case of La Tulipe is not unlike that of Divan Orange, an independent hall which had to close its doors in 2018 following repeated noise complaints from a neighbor and due to a precarious financial situation.
In the early evening, Mayor Rabouin said he believed a solution to the dispute was possible. “The La Tulipe theater is here to stay,” he said on Twitter. “The cultural vitality of the Plateau is an asset to be preserved. We have had several discussions with the owners, and are closely monitoring the legal proceedings underway between the two private parties. A solution will emerge. “