Committee debates and amends noise ordinance; multiple technical changes passed and bill tabled for law‑department redrafting

The Amherst Police & Fire Committee spent an extended March 17 session debating revisions to a proposed noise ordinance (Item 8-25-05). Committee members, the police chief, the law department and a Republic Services representative discussed enforceability, decibel thresholds, time windows and exemptions. The committee approved several substantive amendments but ultimately tabled the ordinance for the law department to reconcile language and definitions.

“Certain things that had come forward in the proposed ordinance probably wouldn't be in the best interest of enforcement,” said Police Chief Chip Coffin, describing practical limits on how officers could take sound measurements and urging a shorter measurable duration than some proposed time-weighted averages.

Council President (identified in discussion as council president) proposed simplifying the ordinance to one short enforceable window and one decibel level. She said she and the chief discussed “reducing this to something that's very simply enforceable, and that's reducing it to a very, very short window of time. And just have 1 number and 1 period…