The Stuart Town Council postponed any changes to its noise ordinance during its meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 18, opting to gather more information before proceeding. The noise ordinance, enacted earlier this year, remains in effect for now.
Town Manager Bryce Simmons addressed concerns raised after a local law enforcement officer questioned the constitutionality of the ordinance. Simmons consulted Commonwealth’s Attorney Dayna Bobbitt, who assured him the ordinance is constitutional.
“The deputy that made that comment was misinterpreting the conversation that either he had with her, or whatever. She let me know of a case named Tanner v. The City of Virginia Beach,” he said.
The case, Simmons said, is a noise ordinance case where a club owner was open late until 1-2 a.m., and cops would be called regarding the noise. Police officers would then have the determination to make if they were within the rights of the noise ordinance.
Tanner v. The City of Virginia Beach has been challenged, and Simmons said therefore the noise ordinance itself is being challenged.
“But what is being challenged in the noise ordinance is the subjugation of an officer. So, where we wanted to give our officers some leeway to determine if it is in compliance with the noise ordinance or not, they now want that to be a defined number. Essentially, they want us to define what decibel level is considered a nuisance,” he said.
Town Attorney Chris Corbett said it doesn’t have to be considered a nuisance, but instead a violation of the ordinance.
“Correct,” Simmons said. “But that is essentially what Dayna has told us that we need to do with our noise ordinance is put a decibel level that cannot be gone over. If we do violate that decibel level, then they would be out of compliance with our noise ordinance.”
Corbett said Tanner v. The City of Virginia Beach is the leading case in Virginia on noise ordinances, and one of the leading cases in the county.
“I mean, they really walked through the constitutionality of things in 2009 when this thing was released. But if the Commonwealth’s Attorney, unless she delegates it to the town attorney for misdemeanors as jurisdiction to prosecute all misdemeanors within the county,” he said. “If she’s a number person, it’s either numbers or not I suppose.”
Simmons believes formally establishing a decibel level takes out the gray area and the policing out of law enforcement’s hands and into a defensible instrument.
“Look at it this way, it’s the difference between drunk driving and not. There is a strict number that they have to say is defensible in court. It’s what is defensible in court,” Simmons said. His research has shown that 50 decibels is the natural number for a quiet street.
In his opinion, Mayor Ray Weiland said the council created a noise ordinance to appease two people in town. “To waste more of our time on it is kind of not in the best interest of the town at large. Ours is constitutional. Is it defensive? Maybe, maybe not,” he said.
Council member Erica Wade said there are decibel ranges in the town’s noise ordinance.
“It just doesn’t have a solid, ‘if you’re over x you get a ticket.’ We just have the policing option,” she said.
Simmons believes input on a revised noise ordinance should be sought from the commonwealth’s attorney.
If a decibel number is decided upon, Weiland asked if the council should purchase decibel meters for the sheriff’s office and the town.
“I think that’s the direction that has been indicated they would like to go,” Simmons said.
Council member Dave Hoback said the way he sees the situation is the council invested a lot of time and months of discussion as it presumably thought the noise ordinance was worth doing.
“Now that our chief law officer has given us a definitive recommendation on what needs to be adjusted to make it defensible,” he said.
Weiland said the council now needs to establish what number the ordinance’s upper limit would be to trigger a violation.
While he doesn’t have a number in decibel form, Corbett said the City of Danville prohibits the usual noises that are plainly audible at a distance of 50-feet or more from the building or the property line, or whatever is further. He also recommended that town staff should do its research and bring a suggested ordinance back to council.
In other matters, the council:
*Approved the meeting minutes.
*Approved the transfer of two pump stations to the Patrick County Public Service Authority (PSA).
*Adopted a collection of forms relating to the Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD) Downtown Revitalization project.
*Paid the bills.
*Heard an update on public works.
