Christiansburg residents can expect more stringent rules on illicit discharge in stormwater, more lenient rules on sidewalk sales and nothing new to curtail noise.

Those issues were dealt with during a town council meeting on Tuesday, that was heavy on ordinance consideration.

A proposed noise ordinance -- drafted by the planning commission after resident Terry Ellen Carter made some noise about the construction din in her Windmill Ridge subdivision -- was dropped by council members.

"We did nothing," said councilwoman Ann Carter, who serves as the council's voting member on the planning commission. "We decided we would not pursue the ordinance. The planning commission did not recommend it. Looking at the police report, we felt it wasn't needed."

Members of the planning commission had spent months preparing a noise ordinance, based on ordinances they reviewed in other localities, after council directed the commission to study the issue in July. But when it came time to vote on recommending the ordinance to council, the commission balked.

"We've created a monster," commission member Wayne Booth said at an Oct. 29 meeting. "We're kind of setting people up for unequal treatment. I just think we're creating a monster here."

Fearing that the proposed ordinance would require police officers to issue citations to noisemakers for violations, even if no complaints were filed, commission members decided that officers are already able to enforce "unreasonable noise" violations with existing sections of the town code that address disorderly conduct, barking dogs and loudspeaker advertising.

"The officers don't seem to have a problem enforcing the existing laws," Town Manager Lance Terpenny noted at the Oct. 29 meeting. "We do have existing authority to prohibit unreasonable noise."

But Terry Ellen Carter, who wanted rules spelled out about specific times when construction and other noise would be allowed, was incensed that the matter was abandoned for the time being.

Among her heated remarks to the council on Tuesday, she said that "the planning commission should be replaced with members who will represent the homeowners and residents of the town, not just the construction industry."

"I've never been a proponent of creating laws just for the sake of putting laws on the book," commission member Bob Poff said of his reason for voting not to recommend the ordinance to the council.

Planning commission Chairman Steve Simmons said the group complaining about noise was a small one and that he has not heard complaints from others in the community.

Terry Ellen Carter said the planning commission, however, was "cavalier in their treatment of this issue."

"They weren't willing to take the complaints of the people seriously," she said, adding that she believed commission members should have been more active in seeking public opinion about the effects of noise on Christiansburg residents.

"They didn't go door-to-door checking with homeowners," she said.

After deciding to accept the planning commission recommendation and discontinue discussion about the noise ordinance, the council turned its attention to proposed changes to the town's sidewalk sale ordinance.

The issue came up after Tacy Newell-Foutz, owner of the Coffee Depot on Main Street, discovered that an old town ordinance required that sidewalk sales be sponsored by the Christiansburg Chamber of Commerce, an organization that no longer exists. The Christiansburg and Blacksburg chambers merged in 2002 to form the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.

The old ordinance had limited the number of annual sidewalk sales to four and had required the nod of the chamber. The council voted to revise the ordinance so that a licensed business operator in the town can have sidewalk sales as often as desired by submitting a permit to the town manager at least 15 days before the event. The business also will be responsible for providing proof of insurance to hold the town harmless.

As leading organizer of a downtown merchants group, Newell-Foutz said the ordinance revisions should clear the way for businesses to offer more events designed to bring people into the downtown area.

The final ordinance considered Tuesday addressed stormwater and measures to control the discharge of pollutants.

Council voted to adopt the state rules for metropolitan areas regarding storm water management.

Assistant Town Manager Barry Helms said the state rules are relatively strict, especially in regard to illicit discharge.

The ordinance will enable the town to comply with state requirements to reduce pollution from storm water runoff into rivers and streams.

In other words, Helms said, the rules will apply to "stuff that's going into the storm drain that shouldn't."

"If it's not generated by rain, it shouldn't be going in the storm water," he said. "That's our drinking water."