The Stuart Town Council heard from residents about the need for a noise ordinance, and the enforcement of a derelict property ordinance at its Aug. 16 meeting.
Larry Hall said a noise ordinance is needed. He added that he can hear a neighbor’s radio from around 300 feet away.
“If you can hear a radio that far away, it was turned on 12 minutes after 12 p.m. today and it was still going when I left. And we listen to it for” hours, Hall said. “Thursday, it was on before midday. Day and night.”
The town currently does not have a noise ordinance, Mayor Ray Weiland said.
“We’ve been back and forth on this over the years. I know that. I think what we can really do right now is send letters and ask (Hall’s neighbor) for some cooperation,” he said, noting the town has usually had cooperation in these matters.
“We can certainly talk to them and see what the issues are and try to figure that out, but I think obviously you call the police” to report the noise, Weiland said.
Hall said the council also needs to do something about the derelict properties, and the blight ordinance needs to be enforced.
“I’m serious about that. If you don’t enforce them then you need a new town council and a new town manager, that’s how I feel,” Hall said.
David Wilson said he called the town about four years ago about getting a mess near his home cleaned up, but it hasn’t happened yet.
“I talked to somebody else, and they said, ‘oh we’re afraid to go down and talk to him (property owner). He’s crazy,’ and walked away and left. Well apparently, he’d like to live next to a dump, because that’s what we are living next to – a dump,” Wilson said.
Weiland said the council’s blight committee has been identifying areas that need to be cleaned up.
“We do have some leeway if there’s a certain amount. We’ll have to go and access the situation and see exactly what’s needed. We send out letters, we give the owners plenty of time to take care of it,” Weiland said.
After a certain period of time, if there is trash and the like in the yard, Weiland said the town goes in and cleans it up.
“We are working on it,” he said. “We’ve got rid of some other really dilapidated buildings and that sort of thing. We’re working on some more that we have right now. We’re taking small bites right now, little bites at a time,” he said.
Town Manager Bryce Simmons said he believes this is the first year the town has ever set aside funding specifically for blight remediation.
“We are trying to be very strategic in the properties that we are trying to remediate,” he said.
Weiland said the town will do what it can.
“We’re not going to ignore it. We’ll start out the process, we need to access it and make sure what exactly is out there that we need to do,” Weiland said.
In other matters, the council:
*Approved the meeting minutes.
*Paid the bills.
*Heard an update on public works projects.
*Heard an update on the wastewater treatment plant.
*Discussed the caboose.
*Discussed the idea of part of Stuart becoming an Urban Designation Area.
