Council OK’s new city noise ordinance
Under a new city ordinance, loud concerts and events that go past 10 p.m. will require a special use permit.
By CHRIS PETERSON
Hungry Horse News
The Columbia Falls City Council Monday night unanimously approved the first reading of a new noise ordinance.
Council made one tweak to the law, allowing construction to go on until 7 p.m. The original draft of the law set construction time limits to 6 p.m., but with the long summer days, council decided to extend it.
No one from the public spoke in favor or against the law during a public hearing.
That’s probably because the city held a series of meetings with its public safety committee where the law was hashed out with local businesses. Neighbors who also had concerns attended some of the meetings as well.
The law is based, in part, on a similar law from Beaverton, Oregon.
The law prohibits a person from making “Any unreasonably loud or raucous noise within the jurisdictional limits of the city.”
It also prohibits, “Any noise, which unreasonably disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, or safety of reasonable individuals of ordinary sensitivity and in addition … any noise which is so harsh, prolonged, unnatural, or unusual in time, place, or duration as to occasion unreasonable discomfort to any place to which the general public has sort for business, entertainment, or other lawful purpose, but does not necessarily mean a place devoted solely to the uses of the public. It shall also include the front or immediate area of any store, shop, restaurant, tavern, or other place of business and also public grounds, areas, or parks.”
There are a host of caveats, however. It does not regulate noise from vehicles on open roads, for example. Venues can have also have late night concerts with a special use permit from the city.
That happens primarily during Heritage Days, when outdoor concerts typically go later into the night.
Under the law, venues can have music until 10 p.m. without a special use permit.
The law is also fairly liberal when it comes to noise like leaf blowers and lawn mowers. It allows their use up to 10 p.m., but also allows them beginning at 6 a.m. in the morning.
The law, in short, looks to keep night hours quiet in the city.
Violation of the law is a misdemeanor offense.