July 21, 2010 - I have received a handful of calls and emails related to the noise ordinance, what this means to citizens, and the basis for my recommendation on how loud events can be. Here's a brief summary: Prior to the ordinance being drafted, there was essentially no consistent limit or guidelines on how loud an event at a park could be. It was managed by someone’s perception of "too loud". This was deemed unacceptable and guidelines for limits on noise in our city parks were drafted.
The ordinance came forward with a proposal that sound in our parks could not exceed 50db during the day and 45db after 9PM. For a perspective on this, 50db is about the noise level in your living room. I felt this was overly restrictive and incongruent with the typical use of a park. Therefore, I proposed a more reasonable level of 70db during the day and 65db after 9PM. While this is certainly not going to make every park neighbor happy, I believe it is a reasonable compromise that allows our citizens to use the parks in their intended manner without overly infringing on the neighborhood.
Please note that this is not a “band shell” ordinance. While the current discussion seems to gravitate to the band shell area, the ordinance is designed to cover the entire city and allows our parks, such as Prairie Ridge and Cascade Falls, to be used in their intended manner.
Additionally, I had strong concerns about the message this lower noise level sends to the community. Do we want to be viewed as a city that rolls up its streets at 9PM? I really don’t think that is the direction we want to head. I’d prefer to have more entertainment options in our city but these will be few and far between if the noise levels must be kept at the level of my living room. If you have thoughts, feel free to share them with me.
