Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Noise Enforcement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mount Vernon residents press council on loud-summer noise; council cites existing ordinance and enforcement gaps
Summary
A resident asked the council to set evening noise limits; council members said Mount Vernon already has a 24-hour noise ordinance but acknowledged enforcement gaps and agreed to research petitions or minor time adjustments.
Terry Ann Lee, a Mount Vernon resident, urged the City Council on Jan. 22 to adopt stricter noise rules after recurring loud music in warmer months disturbed her neighborhood.
“Every summer … the music, the loud volumes up,” Lee said during public comment, and asked the council to consider a citywide ordinance that would require music to be turned down between 9 p.m. and 7:30 a.m., or to impose a decibel limit “no more than 84 decibels, which is about the sound of a leaf blower.”
Council members responded that noise regulation already exists. “I did look up the e-codes, and we do have something on the books for noise issues … 24 hours,” Councilman Foti said, and several members called enforcement the primary problem. Council President Brown noted the difference between the ordinance Lee proposed (a 9 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. turn-down) and the city’s current rules was a matter of minutes and suggested a community petition to show broader support before changing an ordinance.
Councilman Gleeson said the Department of Public Works had been asked to address street-sweeper placement and that police and code enforcement would be asked to improve response. Council members said they would follow up with the police department on enforcement options and that staff would examine whether a modest time adjustment or a decibel-based rule would be legally and practically enforceable.
No formal action was taken; council members directed staff to research enforcement options and community support for any proposed change.
