DeKalb ‘party house’ rattles nearby homes, despite multiple calls to authorities

ATLANTA -  Imagine the nightmare: You buy your dream home to raise kids or enjoy retirement, only to have your peace shattered by a new, very loud neighbor.

Not just loud, but throwing frequent parties – with pounding music, shouting, heavy traffic, and such large crowds, the front yard becomes a parking lot. There’s even valet parking, shuttle service and armed security. And the owner rents the house out for private events, which get loud too.

A group of homeowners in unincorporated DeKalb County told the FOX 5 I-Team they’ve been living in this suburban hell for the past year and a half, with no relief from county authorities.

Inescapable noise

The backstory:

Two years ago, Brock Shorter’s $1.8 million home went up in a quiet neighborhood in unincorporated DeKalb County, just inside I-285.

Soon the neighborhood wasn’t quiet anymore.

Shorter hosted a New Year’s party to ring in 2024, and a succession of other parties followed throughout the year. Neighbors told the I-Team the blaring music, shouting, traffic, and other noise obliterated their serenity.

"It is very dysregulating to your nervous system," said Sarah Kleiner, who is raising two children two doors up. "You could just be relaxing at home, and then all of a sudden the bass starts. You’re sitting on your couch and it just starts thundering through the home."

Andre Jackson and his wife, Lisa Burrows, live next door to Shorter, his two-story modern home dominating Jackson’s backyard view.

"On a party day, we retreat further inside the house than we normally would, because you can hear the music through our double-paned windows, which are always closed," Jackson said. "We live with loud music, screeching car tires late in the evening, car alarms, car horns, and associated noise."

Rafi Muhanna, a university professor, lives on another street, but his yard backs up to Shorter’s property. His back deck is about 200 feet away from the party house’s pool.

"Sometimes we cannot sleep, we cannot work, we cannot rest," he said. "We cannot use our deck.

"It is destroying our quality of life," Muhanna said.

Neighbors said they once had a cordial relationship with Shorter, but that quickly soured.

"When he first moved in, he told us he was having a New Year’s Eve party," Kleiner, the mother of two, said. "He even asked us if the music was too loud. He tested out his speakers. And I was laying in the bathtub at the time, and I told my husband, ‘That’s way too loud. Please have him turn that down.’"

Jackson said with the neighbors wanting quiet, and him wanting to hold party after party, they reached an impasse.

"He pretty much said he heard us, and he had a property that he could sort of use as he saw fit," Jackson said.

It’s also generating revenue

Dig deeper:

But what’s happening is more than just a 36-year-old homeowner whose lifestyle clashes with his neighbors. Some of the gatherings at his home are revenue generators.

Shorter has the house listed on Giggster and Airbnb as a "modern compound," renting for $500 per hour and $10,500 for five nights.

DeKalb County Police reports show the house being used to shoot a music video, and in another case, for a spiritual event that prompted a noise complaint.

Some of the events charge for admission, such as a businesswomen’s brunch last month with $75 tickets, according to an ad on Instagram.

The I-Team asked DeKalb County Code Compliance if that’s allowed in a residential area.

"No," a county spokesman responded by email. "Based on the R-75 designation for this property, the use of the property as a special event center is not permissible."

Ineffectual enforcement?

What we know:

So why has the party house kept on partying?

Partly, because every time Shorter has been cited for code violations, the charges have been dismissed, Magistrate Court records show. He’s been cited for not having a business license and running a business in a residential area – with both cases nolle prossed.

"I've been to court multiple times," Shorter told the I-Team in a phone interview. "Nothing has stuck. Because I'm in my rights."

He did pay a $405 fine in July for lacking a certificate of occupancy, court records say.

Police reports show that when officers have been summoned, they often ask Shorter, or other party hosts, to keep it down. They also inform those complaining that they can’t do anything about loud noise before 11 p.m.

When Jackson summoned police over the music video shoot in December, an officer wrote in his report, "We reminded Mr. Jackson that we are unable to enforce the county’s' residential noise ordinance until 2300 hours."

By that time, Jackson had already written a letter to the DeKalb County Commission and Code Compliance in June asking for help, comparing the house next door to a "commercial nightclub." Including him and his wife, 32 people from 18 addresses signed on to the letter.

"The property owner and his associates are growing adept at skirting right to the edge of the existing laws and their spotty enforcement," the letter to the county said.

Kleiner said the parties are causing serious problems for her family.

"My daughter is 17. She has non-verbal autism and also a seizure disorder," Kleiner said. "And one thing that can trigger violent behaviors and seizures is loud noise and lack of sleep.

"I don’t have a problem with someone having a party," she said, "but having speakers that are loud enough to reverberate sound into my home to disturb my children’s bedrooms and my bedroom is unacceptable."

‘I do have parties’

The other side:

Shorter, a former Ole Miss basketball player, told the I-Team his neighbors have been exaggerating the noise levels. He said they’re actually the ones harassing him.

"They’ll complain just to run the numbers up," he said. "When you do that, you cry wolf like that just to run the numbers up to make my house seem like a nuisance. It just taints the whole claim."

He said he’s used decibel meters to test how far his sound system carries. He said he knows the county code, and he’s not violating any ordinances.

"I'm not even going to sit here and act like, ‘Oh, I'm just a saint.’ I do have parties. I do have music playing," he said. "You're going to be able to hear it during the hours that (you) are allowed to hear it. But it's not going to be unreasonable."

He also denied running a so-called party house. Shorter said most of the parties his neighbors take issue with are his own.

"When I throw a party, let's just say it's Memorial Day weekend – (it’s) my friends and family and whoever else I want there. It’s pretty fun, you know?" Shorter said.

He said he does not sell tickets. Asked about a post on Eventbrite about an upcoming Memorial Day blowout – which put general admission at $25, on-site parking at $117, and $866 for "2 bottles and 5 tickets" – Shorter said he knew nothing about that and that someone posted it without his permission.

Soon after the interview, the Eventbrite post was changed to "canceled," then taken down.

Noise rules may change

Why you should care:

The neighborhood’s county commissioner, Michelle Long Spears, said she’s been trying to help the neighbors. As for why the problem still festers, she referred that question to the county’s executive branch.

"Since January of 2024, we have received 20 calls for noise concerns," Spears told the I-Team. "My office has been actively working with the administration since then – four different departments, including both police and code enforcement, to help resolve this issue."

Ultimately, the commissioner said, the solution may be for the commission – the county’s legislative branch – to adjust county codes. The Atlanta City Council recently tightened its laws, defining party houses and banning them from certain neighborhoods,

"We have been working on a short-term rental ordinance," the DeKalb commissioner said. "A portion of that ordinance does relate to dealing with these party-house issues. And we have also tried to tackle it through strengthening our current noise ordinance."

The proposed solution there: Cap decibel levels at 65 during the day and until 11 p.m. on weeknights and until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. And after 11 p.m. or midnight, forbid sounds that are audible 100 feet or more from the source.

Shorter said if ordinances change, "I have no problem with it. I’m going to go by any rules that they set."

About that Memorial Day party

What's next:

Very little, if the neighbors have their way.

With the I-Team making inquiries, Code Compliance met with Shorter on Wednesday to talk about the community’s concerns. Shorter said he’s taking steps to reduce the impact from his music, and they clarified parking rules for him.

Shorter said he assured them he wouldn’t hold a party on Memorial Day.

That will be a relief to Jackson and his wife.

"We wanted this to be our dream home," Lisa Burrows said. "And we worked our whole lives to live in the kind of neighborhood where you can hear birds and have quiet coffee on the deck.

"And it’s very frustrating to have to hear loud music and cursing," she said, "and all the things that you work your whole life to avoid in the neighborhood."

I-TeamDeKalb CountyCrime and Public Safety