Our Opinion: Let’s hear it for a noise ordinance with specifics

News Tribune editorial

Friday, July 27, 2012

How loud is too loud?

Jefferson City officials are preparing an amended noise ordinance to quantify maximum permitted sound levels.

By providing specific, measurable standards, the new law is intended to be easier to enforce.

In an ideal world, common courtesy would prevail.

In reality, excessive noise can range from inconvenient to infuriating, and disrupt tranquility, concentration and sleep.

City Counselor Drew Hilpert said the existing noise ordinance is “so far out of date to be almost inapplicable.” And Public Works Director Roger Schwartze added: “The current ordinance is difficult to enforce because there’s nothing in there that tells you how loud is too loud.”

The new ordinance would establish standards both for daytime and nighttime in three separate zoning categories — commercial, industrial and residential.

The ordinance also establishes where the sound will be measured, the device to be used and the scale, defined as “units of the frequency-weighted sound level, or dB(A), in accordance with the American National Standards Institute specifications.”

For example, the proposed ordinance establishes the permissible daytime dB(A) in a residential area at 60.

In comparison, the dB(A) levels for other common noises include: vacuum cleaner, 60-85; blender, 80-90; leaf blower, 110; rock concert, 110-120; rocket launch, 180.

The permissible levels established in a new ordinance are matters for the City Council to decide after hearing from their constituents.

Most important is the establishment of reasonable and enforceable standards.

More like this story

LuckNLove 9 months, 4 weeks ago

So if the noise level is set at 60 for residential then a loud vacummn cleaner, blender, and leaf blower could get you a fine... yikes for me...I use a shop vac to clean up wood dust after cutting/sanding wood... and when I have company, I'd like to use my blender without a complaint. Guess at least I can run out that pesty neighbor down the road when he runs he lawn mover at 7:00 am.

JCLifer 9 months, 4 weeks ago

The noise level on your property is not the issue. You can have it as loud as you want anywhere on your property. They will check the noise level with a meter right across your property line, and the noise better be under the limit when it transmits to other property. You can have it as loud as you want on your own property. They cannot tell you how to live or what to do when it is on your own property.

JCLifer 9 months, 4 weeks ago

Wow! The NT editor read my mind!!!

tonto_goldberg 9 months, 4 weeks ago

I strongly support the idea of defining an infuriating noise. Suppose my next door neighbor turns up the stereo and plays a polka. The same one. Over and over, all evening! I hate that! Eventually I will be able to call the city and get a ruling on how loud he can play that stuff.

MsEMS 9 months, 4 weeks ago

I just don't want my car to viabrate when I am at a stop light, or have my teeth rattle! These loud stereo playing people, grow up and get a grip on manners! The whole thing is a bunch of ()&(&.

mlapin 9 months ago

I cannot understand how anyone including Public Works Director Roger Schwartze could say they took a sound reading of about 79 from Prison Brews the night of any outdoor concert. A quick google search shows me that that is just about the loudness of a washing machine. You can hear the music as it bends and distorts past Chestnut--more than a block away. Try to hear a washing machine from that distance. I too have called the police about the loud music and it is very loud. So loud at times you cannot even hear your own TV without turning up the sound. One time it actually made the windows shake as I visited a friend on Ash Street--and the friend did not live across the street from the patio.

What is it with this need to play loud music in a residential area and totally disregard the people who live on the block?

John 9 months ago

Electronic measure of decibel levels is an effective way to measure sound. Some people are more sensitive to high frequency sound than others and some people are more sensitive to low frequency.

You can say what you will, but modern sound-level measuring devices are accurate at all audible frequencies. The trick is setting the mandated maximum level at an acceptable level.

I know some cities, for example, where the maximum level for an automobiles audio system, to be adjusted where it cannot be heard by someone outside the vehicle wit all openings closed (windows,,etc.). I have seen polic officers enforce that ordinance too. It seems to have worked.

The only snage is in getting the police to enforce it.

mlapin 9 months ago

Electronic measurement is fine--but whoever takes the measurement must know what he/she is doing. My problem is that the music coming from Prison Brews when they play on the patio is very loud--not the sound a dish washer makes. Also the individual taking the sound measurements took it from two places fifty feet apart and came yup with the same reading. How?

John 9 months ago

Probably because sound waves travel at a specific speed. Some obstacles reflect sound and other obstacles absorb sound. It also has to do with the direction in which the speaker or other sound apertures are aimed. I know Roger Schwartze and believe that he is more than capable of taking sound measurements in an accurate and purposeful manner.

mlapin 9 months ago

My question then becomes: Can he take other measurements at an angle? Sometimes the sound is so loud, it disturbs residents in 326 Ash and down the street at 325. Perhaps he should take measurements from where the complaintant resides.

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