The Numbers Holding Co., Number Thirty Eight’s parent company, has closed on a plot of land at the corner of East Dry Creek Road and Broadway, about ten minutes from Littleton's downtown area. Unlike the Denver location, at 3560 Chestnut Place, the plot doesn’t abut any existing neighbor’s balconies.
When Number Thirty Eight applied to renew its cabaret license in 2021, neighbors lodged a complaint alleging that noise from the venue was ruining their quality of life. Paul Riedesel, the City of Denver's noise and acoustic expert, found that at least one concert in June 2021 violated Denver’s noise ordinance.
Cowles's suggested permit conditions would end amplified sound outdoors at 10 p.m. and prompt the closing of the venue's garage doors at that time, requiring Number Thirty Eight to make every effort to ensure that the doors customers use to enter and exit are closed unless someone is immediately using them. All entertainment at the venue must abide by the Denver noise ordinance, and the venue must continue to follow its sound plan, the recommendation says.
“So long as Number Thirty Eight complies with these conditions, I find that the adult residents of the designated area need and desire the modification to Number 38's dance cabaret license,” Cowles wrote in his decision. “Further I find that if Number Thirty Eight complies with the conditions in [the recommendation], the Director can have confidence that the facility can be operated lawfully, and will not adversely impact the health, welfare and morals of the designated area.”
While the decision is a notch on the belt for neighbors, the recommendation also gives Number Thirty Eight the flexibility it had requested to have its garage doors open during live entertainment — and even have such events outdoors as long as they end by 10 p.m., when Denver’s noise ordinance lowers the limit for noise from 55 to 50 decibels.
In May 2022, Molly Duplechian — executive director of the Denver Department of Excise & Licenses — decided that Number Thirty Eight could keep its license, with restrictions to help the neighbors.
In October that year, Number Thirty Eight requested another modification to the cabaret license, asking that it specify that garage doors can be open when bands are playing indoors and don’t have a drum set, or when recorded entertainment like TVs and background music is played through its sound system. The venue also requested that live entertainment without drums be allowed outdoors, should performers use its sound system, which is designed to comply with Denver’s noise ordinance under a sound plan that Number Thirty Eight developed as part of the application for modification.
On Wednesday, April 19, Macon Cowles — the city hearing officer who considered Number Thirty Eight's cabaret license revision case on April 11 — issued a recommended decision that five conditions be placed on the venue's license.
Should Cowles's recommendation be accepted by Duplechian and the Department of Excise & Licenses, which has the final decision, Number Thirty Eight would be barred from removing or modifying its sound barrier wall and volume-limiting sound system without applying for an official permit modification. In October that year, Number Thirty Eight requested another modification to the cabaret license, asking that it specify that garage doors can be open when bands are playing indoors and don’t have a drum set, or when recorded entertainment like TVs and background music is played through its sound system. The venue also requested that live entertainment without drums be allowed outdoors, should performers use its sound system, which is designed to comply with Denver’s noise ordinance under a sound plan that Number Thirty Eight developed as part of the application for modification.
On Wednesday, April 19, Macon Cowles — the city hearing officer who considered Number Thirty Eight's cabaret license revision case on April 11 — issued a recommended decision that five conditions be placed on the venue's license.
Cowles's suggested permit conditions would end amplified sound outdoors at 10 p.m. and prompt the closing of the venue's garage doors at that time, requiring Number Thirty Eight to make every effort to ensure that the doors customers use to enter and exit are closed unless someone is immediately using them. All entertainment at the venue must abide by the Denver noise ordinance, and the venue must continue to follow its sound plan, the recommendation says.
“So long as Number Thirty Eight complies with these conditions, I find that the adult residents of the designated area need and desire the modification to Number 38's dance cabaret license,” Cowles wrote in his decision. “Further I find that if Number Thirty Eight complies with the conditions in [the recommendation], the Director can have confidence that the facility can be operated lawfully, and will not adversely impact the health, welfare and morals of the designated area.”
While the decision is a notch on the belt for neighbors, the recommendation also gives Number Thirty Eight the flexibility it had requested to have its garage doors open during live entertainment — and even have such events outdoors as long as they end by 10 p.m., when Denver’s noise ordinance lowers the limit for noise from 55 to 50 decibels.
The new Littleton concept comprises a mass-timber building with 8,500 square feet of space and extensive views of the mountains. According to Haleigh Watts, national marketing director for Numbers Holding Co., location was a huge factor when the company began examining a second Colorado venue, in part because of the issues it’s faced with sound complaints at its location in Denver.
“In addition, Number Thirty Eight Littleton has been designed as a primarily indoor facility, with its only stage residing indoors,” Watts says.
Fresh off winning the award for Best Free Entertainment in Westword's 2023 Best of Denver issue, Number Thirty Eight plans to continue that approach in Littleton, offering free live music along with local spirits, products and chefs at the new location while connecting with the surrounding community.
“It has been an honor to curate unique and exciting experiences for the community,” Numbers Holding Co. says in a statement. “We look forward to bringing those experiences to Number 38 Littleton.”
The Littleton noise code has terms similar to Denver’s, with a decibel limit of 55 during the day and 50 at night in residential areas — although the 50-decibel limit begins at 7 p.m. in Littleton rather than 10 p.m.
However, the limit is higher in business districts, with 60 decibels allowed from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., and 55 decibels allowed at night.
The planned Number Thirty Eight Littleton is currently in a "corridor mixed-use" location with a planned overlay district. In layman's terms, it’s not purely residential, and the city has plans to eventually change its requirements for the area as it develops and grows.
“This Subsection is intended to facilitate development within existing Planned Developments or Planned Development Overlays of parcels approved for development but dormant or otherwise undeveloped, by expanding options with respect to the development standards and regulations that may apply to such development,” the Littleton noise control code reads.
Littleton redid its zoning code in 2021, and in areas zoned as "corridor mixed-use" — like the new Number Thirty Eight — bars, brewpubs and taverns are allowed to exist as long as they comply with the specifications of the city’s downtown building standards.
Number 38 Littleton is expected to open in summer 2024, so the company has plenty of time to make sure it’s on the right track. In the meantime, any objection to Cowles's recommendation can be filed within ten business days, after which Duplechain will issue her official decision on the terms of the license.
