Minutes - Council - 03/25/2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember Elvig stated that he has a problem with stating that, if you can hear something from the property line, it is considered a noise nuisance. He stated that he can stand on the edge of his property and hear the neighbor kids playing and that is not a noise nuisance. Councilmember Dehen asked if the reason the noise nuisance times were shifted is for monitoring the decibel levels or for the ease of enforcement. He stated that if the current ordinance cannot be used without an officer standing in place for an hour, then perhaps the City needs to revise the ordinance. He asked if this ordinance had ever been enforced. Assistant Community Development Director Frolik stated that the ordinance, as written, was intended for people in residential areas running generators all night or having a truck running, and noted that it had been enforced. Councilmember Jeffrey stated that he thinks asking an officer to stand for an hour to record decibel levels is inappropriate and agreed that perhaps the City should take a look at th~t ordinance. Councilmember Look asked what decibel rate is considered a nuisance. Assistant Community Development Director Frolik stated that in residential areas, 65 decibels are permissible from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and 55 decibels from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Councilmember Look asked if the recent snowboarding event reached the 65 decibel sound levels. Assistant Community Development Director Frolik stated that she did not think a decib~l rating was taken for that event. She stated that officers responded to the noise complaint and determined that the P A system needed to be turned down. Councilmember Look stated that in reading the letter submitted by Karen Brown, he feels some information was misunderstood or incorrectly perceived. He stated that the letter stated that Diamonds got a "slap on the hand" for the snowboarding event. He stated that the City reprimanded Diamonds with the letter that very clearly stated that there was a violation of their CUP and any future violations would be met with a public hearing to consider revocation of their CUP. He stated that the letter from Ms. Brown also stated that he (Look) was "caught" by a neighbor's dog while he was conducting his own version of what happened during the event. He stated that he walked down the driveway and knocked on the resident's door and asked them if . the noise they were hearing was similar to what they heard during the event. He stated that in the letter it states that he referred to the people who complained as "whiners". He stated that he is concerned that the City has a set rating for noise nuisance levels and he feels that if the noise doesn't exceed those levels, there shouldn't be a complaint. He stated that he wanted to set the record straight as he feels there was some wrong information in Ms. Brown's letter. Mayor Gamec noted that Ms. Brown's letter would be made part ofthe record, as it was written. City Council / March 25, 2008 Page 8 of 17