Sunday, August 30, 2009
Partying without a noise ordinance
Christian Trejbal
Recent columns
- Baptists might leave downtown Blacksburg
- A theater rises between town and campus
- Making sense of local elections
- Voters have only themselves to blame
From the RoundTable blog
For another week and a half, Virginia Tech students can cut loose. They can party into the night, screaming at the stars and dancing to music so loud it will leave permanent hearing damage.
No one can do anything about it except hope students are not so foolish. Until Blacksburg Town Council updates the noise ordinance on Tuesday, Sept. 8, town residents may be as noisy as they like.
The current ordinance is unconstitutionally vague and therefore unenforceable. It defines a noise disturbance as something that "annoys or disturbs reasonable persons of normal sensitivities within the town."
But who counts as a reasonable person? The answer, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled this spring in a case out of Virginia Beach, is unclear. Sounds that annoy one person might not disturb another. And without a clear standard, people cannot know what the law requires of them.
So Blacksburg will revise its ordinance to try to satisfy the court. The new definition of "excessive noise" is "any sound which annoys or disturbs humans or which causes or tends to cause an adverse psychological or physiological effect on humans."
That seems just as vague as the previous definition, or it might set the bar so low that any sound that annoys two people would be illegal.
Fortunately, the general definition is just there for show. It will not affect enforcement. Rather, the revisions to the code spell out a very specific list of things that count as illegal, excessive noise, and only that list matters, according to Town Attorney Larry Spencer.
Music audible across a property line or 50 feet or more from the source is out. So are shouting and singing at night, horns, loudspeakers, fireworks, large parties and noisy animals. All told, the law defines 14 kinds of excessive noise.
Churches, inexplicably, are exempt. They may disrupt the peace and quiet as much as they like.
It is impossible to foresee every possible sound that might disturb Blacksburg residents. For example, the list does not forbid smashing beer bottles. Smash away.
"I readily concede that there might be some sort of noise that might not be covered by this," he said. "That's why, long term, I think it might be good to work in a decibel standard."
That is how Charlottesville and Virginia Beach now handle noise complaints. They spell out how many decibels are allowed where at what time. It brings welcome scientific and mathematical precision to the law.
Your thoughts
Before Blacksburg could go that route, its police would need decibel meters and training in how to use them. The town budget has no money for that this year.
At least Blacksburg is doing something. The changes are not perfect, but they will suffice for a year or two.
Less can be said for Christiansburg. There, what is already a pathetic excuse for a noise ordinance remains on the books. The Supreme Court decision invalidated it, too, but council has not taken up the issue.
Town Attorney Jim Guynn said the town is waiting for the Local Government Attorneys of Virginia, a professional association, to come up with a model ordinance.
In the meantime -- 10 more days in Blacksburg, indefinitely in Christiansburg -- if your neighbor knocks on your door and says she is trying to sleep or study, you can tell her to get lost. If Officer Johnnie shows up and tells you to turn down the music, you can refuse.
But you had best prepare for the consequences.
If you get lippy with Officer Johnnie, he might look for other violations, like those underage freshmen drinking beer from your keg.
And is it really worth annoying the people you will live next to for months, maybe years? Do you want neighbors who glower whenever they see you, never have a cup of sugar to share, and are ready to call the police at the next loud party or whiff of illegal recreational smoking material?
The police will remember, too. Many first-time noise offenders get off with a warning if they politely comply with a request to turn it down. You might not be so lucky next time.
Even if the law does not say you have to keep it down, common courtesy and common sense say otherwise.
