Can the City Commission Limit Noise?

There was a time when crowing roosters were Cedar Key's worst cause of complaints about noise. Electricity and the internal combustion engine changed all that. Amplified music, motorcycles and air boats now disturb the peace. An attempt by the Cedar Key Commission to pass an enforceable noise ordinance ran into considerable opposition.

On June 3 the Commission tried to regulate, deregulate or at least define noise. The existing noise ordinance was dropped in favor of one patterned after a Gainesville ordinance that uses "normal hearing of sound at 200 feet" as a standard regarding violation of the noise ordinance. That standard is supplemental to use of a decibel meter.

Many people at Commission meetings have given their opinions on the subject of noise. Some say that a noise ordinance ruins business in bars. A homegrown econometric model proposed at a Commission meeting blames a local recession on law enforcement. The Commission seems to be expected to pass a noise ordinance that ignores loud after-hours music and exempts motorcycles without mufflers.

Home owners and condo owners near Dock Street (and farther) object to prolonged after-hours amplified music. Patrons of nearby motels also complain. Defenders of music claim discrimination in favor of motorcycles which are not cited for noisy exhausts. Some call for accommodation in the name of compromise. Compromise requires both sides to consider the position of others.

The noise ordinance already includes compromise. Noise levels are required to be reduced after specified hours. Enforcement the new ordinance using a calibrated decibel meter depends on the will power of City officials. Because Cedar Key has a new noise ordinance and a new Police Chief it is time to learn if it is possible to limit noise by legal means.

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