Palmetto officials decline to participate in Manatee County's noise ordinance

PALMETTO -- Palmetto officials provided a consensus Monday night that the city will decline to piggy-back on Manatee County's new noise ordinance scheduled for a June vote.

Officials liked the ordinance but will instead adopt some of the language and begin the process of developing their own new ordinance modeled on the county's but that is more relevant to the city. City attorney Mark Barnebey expressed ongoing concerns about the county's zoning definitions and how that could impair enforcing the ordinance within the city's differently defined districts.

"We probably should adopt it in some format moving forward," said Barnebey. "My concern is the definitions and if you want to do mixed-use downtown then you will have residential on top of commercial and I'm not sure this ordinance clearly defines that."

Ward 3 Commissioner Brian Williams agreed, noting, "I'm not real thrilled about this ordinance fitting Palmetto, but I do think we should ask the chief of police and the city attorney to come up with something out of this ordinance that will make it our own."

Officials also could not come to terms with the financial penalties in the county's ordinance, which call for a $250 fine and a possible arrest for a first offense. Palmetto's existing ordinance calls for a first warning and Police Chief Scott Tyler said it has been effective.

"Our ordinances do allow for arrests under different ordinances," said Tyler. "But we've never had an occasion where we needed to arrest anyone on a noise violation. I'm not saying we would never need to, but that would be

an extreme case."

In the past three-and-a-half years, Palmetto police officers have only responded to 23 noise complaints. Of those 23, five were at a former business and four were repeat violations from the same resident.

"I read all the reports, "said Tyler. "We respond to noise complaints and we warn people, and they turn it down. That is what is in our existing ordinance and it works."

Williams said there was no reason to "hit someone in the pocketbook real hard unless it is a repeat offender and that should be the second or third offense. I don't see us having a massive problem with this, so we need to do it accordingly."

At-Large Commissioner Jonathan Davis said any new ordinance must address the city's goals for downtown.

"We are already allowing living space above commercial so there needs to be different language just for the downtown area," said Davis.

Officials acknowledge it won't be easy. Ward 2 Commissioner Tambra Varnadore asked who gets the priority in a mixed-use environment.

"Who is going to be most important? Is it the business bringing revenue to the city or the resident that needs to sleep? Our main focus in the comprehensive plan is mixed use so we really do need to tailor our own ordinance," she said.

Barnebey said it would be a constant struggle, but the development of a mixed-use downtown area comes with an understanding for most people that they are knowingly moving into an entertainment area because they want the lifestyle. Barnebey expressed confidence that a compromise could be reached by allowing for longer hours on the weekends, "But there is no for sure answer right now."

Mark Young, Herald urban affairs reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7041 or follow him on Twitter @urbanmark2014.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Palmetto officials decline to participate in Manatee County's noise ordinance ."