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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: June 7, 2005 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. <br />SUBJECT: Proposed County Noise Control Ordinance Revisions <br />DEPARTMENT: Planning and Inspections PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) No <br />ATTACHMENT (S): <br />• Proposed Noise Ordinance <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Craig N. Benedict, Director, ext 2592 <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: The Board considered this item at its regular meeting on May 17, 2005. <br />Questions and comments from that meeting are summarized at the end of this abstract <br />and changes were incorporated into the ordinance as applicable. <br />In recent years, a number of citizen complaints regarding noise have been received by the <br />Sheriffs Office and the Planning Department. Most involve loud parties and music at private <br />residences and gatherings, The present ordinance, which the Sheriffs Office enforces, does <br />not adequately address certain situations, such as noise generated from recreational motorized <br />vehicles (i.e., ATVs, motor bikes, go-carts, model boats and planes, and the like, which have <br />generated citizen complaints), The situation is often not a technical matter, but rather a <br />community problem - a nuisance for which a "reasonable neighbor" approach is emphasized. <br />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 />