Sumter Street Mini Storage of Columbia, S.C., which has been renting units as practice space to local bands since 1986, may soon have to cease such business, thanks to a ruling that says it violates fire-safety laws. Last week, Richland County fire marshal Michael Byrd heard arguments in the case, which started last summer as a neighborhood dispute over noise. Byrd could rule by the end of the month.
 
Referred to by musicians as “the sheds,” the storage facility is near the University of South Carolina and owned by Richard Simoneau, who doesn’t believe the band practices are unsafe. The facility has been used by bands such as Hootie and the Blowfish.
 
A resident complained about late-night noise from the facility a year ago. In November, deputy fire marshal Miranda Spivey ruled that bands could no longer play on site, but Simoneau has continued to rent to them. Nineteen bands are tenants of “the sheds.”
 
Source: The State (Columbia, S.C.), Ruling looms on bands playing at ‘the sheds’

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