Palmetto calls for public input to push final noise ordinance forward

It appears most of what Palmetto has been debating for months to finalize a new noise ordinance has been resolved, save one.

The issue is whether Palmetto police officers should be allowed to initiate noise complaints. Historically, that has not been the case, but officers were included in the new ordinance to help address excessive noise emanating from motor vehicles. Commissioner Harold Smith opposes allowing officers to do that. Smith said he doesn’t want officers chasing an out-of-town motorist through town.

“You might have someone from Tampa who doesn’t even know about our ordinance,” he said. “I don’t want our officers to be put in a situation they don’t need to be in. They have better things to do.”

The ordinance reads that if the noise is plainly heard, or felt, within 50 feet of a moving or parked vehicle, the motorist can be cited. Commissioner Tamara Cornwell said Smith’s suggestion doesn’t address the key component of vehicle noise in the city’s neighborhoods.

“I don’t want the officers taken out of this ordinance,” Cornwell said. “I think we need to empower the officers to do their jobs. The most complaints I receive about noise are from vehicles playing loud music while driving through neighborhoods.”

Under Smith’s proposal, it would require a resident making a complaint before police were able to stop a vehicle making too much noise, assuming the police can locate the vehicle by the time they arrive.

“This seems to be the only sticking point we are down to,” Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant said. “This is the final point I see and I would like to move it forward and ask the public to give input on that final point. We need their input. We need to get this moving forward.”　

Like other municipalities, which have already implemented new noise ordinances, it is necessary to have an enforceable ordinance in place after the State Attorney’s Office said the old reasonable person standard would no longer be the standard for prosecution. The city’s existing ordinance is unenforceable under the new mandate because the city has long used the reasonable person standard.

Commissioners have gone back and forth on several points, at one time reducing decibel levels citywide to 60 from 6 p.m. until midnight and 55 at all other times. Commissioner Jonathan Davis brought forth a new proposal Aug. 29 mimicking Bradenton’s ordinance.

Davis’ proposal is 75 decibels in areas of the city not zoned strictly residential, which would remain at 65. Nonresidential hours would be from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. on weekdays and until midnight on weekends and holidays, at which time levels must drop to 65.

Commissioners have come to consensus on other hot topic debates, as well. For now, no entertainment districts will be created. Decibel levels on special function permits, including events like the annual Fourth of July celebration, will be capped at 100, and commissioners opted not to allow “noise permits” for residents wanting to conduct special events off of city property.

First violations for the new ordinance, if approved, would be a written warning. A second violation within 365 days of the first will be a $100 fine and possible arrest and a third violation in the same time period would be a $250 fine and a possible arrest on a second-degree misdemeanor charge. The first public hearing is scheduled for Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.

This story was originally published September 25, 2017 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Palmetto calls for public input to push final noise ordinance forward."