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Residents complain of late‑night bar noise; council asks owner to install sound‑absorbing panels
Summary
A neighborhood resident told Pecos City Council she has lost sleep because of loud music and yelling from a nearby bar. Police measurements showed levels within legal limits at the sidewalk, but council and staff said they have urged the business owner to install sound‑absorbing panels and will monitor results.
A Pecos resident told the City Council on Feb. 13 she has repeatedly lost sleep because of loud music and crowd noise coming from a downtown bar, and council discussed enforcement options and mitigation measures.
“My name is Olga Flores. I live 2 blocks from here, and I have been losing sleep physically because of this local bar here,” Flores told the council. She said the noise sometimes continued past midnight into the early morning and included yelling and amplified bass that rattled upstairs bedrooms. Flores said officers had measured sound outside her home and shown readings (she cited measurements around the mid‑50s at the sidewalk), but the perceived effect inside upstairs living spaces remains disruptive.
Valerie Trevino introduced the agenda item and said it had been raised previously during public comment. City staff and the city manager reported they had spoken with the business owner; the owner told staff he intends to install sound‑absorbing panels on the south wall of the building at his own expense, and staff asked the owner to consider additional mitigation on the west side as well.
Council and staff acknowledged limits to enforcement: state guidance notes 85 decibels as the presumptive threshold for unreasonableness but that level alone does not make lower readings automatically reasonable. Staff also said the city’s noise ordinance already prohibits “unreasonable noise” during a specified overnight period and that enforcement emphasizes complaints and measured exceedances. An officer reportedly took readings at the sidewalk that fell within the legal threshold, but neighbors said the bass and vibration inside homes remain the main problem.
The council asked staff to monitor the owner’s installation of sound mitigation and to revisit enforcement if the measures do not sufficiently reduce impacts. Staff said they will keep the resident updated on progress and request follow‑up measurements once barriers are in place.
