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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: May 17, 2005 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. g-G <br />SUBJECT: Proposed County Noise Control Ordinance Revisions <br />DEPARTMENT: Planning and Inspections PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT (S): <br />• Proposed Noise Ordinance <br />Minutes of the November 22, 2004 <br />Public Hearing <br />Comparison of Noise Control <br />Ordinance Enforcement Experiences <br />Comparison of Revisions <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Craig N. Benedict, Director, ext 2,592 <br />Lindy Pendergrass, Sheriff, ext 2900 <br />Glenn Bowles, Planner II, ext 2577 <br />TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Hillsborough 732-8181 <br />Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br />Durham 688-7331 <br />Mebane 336-227-2031 <br />PURPOSE: To consider adoption of proposed revisions to the County noise control ordinance. <br />BACKGROUND: In recent years, a number of citizen complaints regarding noise have been <br />received by the Sheriffs Office and the Planning Department. Mast involve loud parties and <br />music at private residences and gatherings. The present ordinance, which the Sheriffs Office <br />enforces, does not adequately address certain situations, such as noise generated from <br />recreational motorized vehicles (i.e., ATVs, motor bikes, go-carts, model boats and planes, and <br />the like, which have generated citizen complaints). The situation is often not a technical matter, <br />but rather a community problem - a nuisance for which a "reasonable neighbor" approach is <br />emphasized. The proposed amendment addresses the following: <br />1. Adds definitions of "noise" and "unreasonably loud and disturbing noise", <br />2. Provides more detailed noise standards by adding specific prohibitions, <br />3. Clarifies that a noise may violate the ordinance in the following ways: <br />• First, it may be a specifically prohibited noise activity including late night (after 9 pm) <br />racing of a recreational motorized vehicle off-road, late night use of landscaping <br />equipment, and late night non-emergency use of compression release engine or <br />transmission braking systems of trucks and other vehicles. (Least inclusive of the <br />types of sounds prohibited); or <br />• Second, it may be "unreasonably loud and disturbing noise," which is defined in the <br />ordinance based upon a "reasonable neighbor" standard considering a number of <br />objective factors such as whether the sound is from a utilitarian versus recreational <br />