Committee narrows noise ordinance: keeps muffler cutout ban, adds 'no rolling coal' language

The Operations Committee on Oct. 24 revised its approach to a proposed traffic-noise ordinance after reviewing board-level feedback and resident concerns. Committee members agreed to keep a provision banning muffler cutouts, remove several broad or duplicative subsections (including language the committee worried might threaten First Amendment protections), and add a new clause banning ‘‘rolling coal’’—the intentional modification of diesel engines to increase noise.

Chair noted that section 1 addresses ‘‘muffler cutouts’’ and said updated ordinance language would make enforcement more clear. Committee members expressed enforcement concerns: one member said proving a cutout requires inspection and may be difficult without vehicle access, while others said a clearer statute improves enforceability when vehicles are taken into custody for other reasons.

On the broader ‘‘unlawful noise’’ language, members called the phrasing too vague and recommended striking it. The committee also removed subsections duplicating an existing ordinance on fireworks and struck parts that referenced external code sections (St. Louis County code) judged irrelevant to the city’s traffic-noise focus.

Members agreed to add a focused provision—referred to in the meeting as 2B3—that would prohibit ‘‘rolling coal,’’ defined in the draft as ‘‘the changing of the combustion on diesel engines to make noise beyond what came out of the factory.’’ The committee voted to record the changes and send the revised draft to the city attorney for formal redrafting and then to the full board for consideration.

Next steps: staff will prepare a redrafted ordinance reflecting the committee’s deletions and the added prohibition on modified diesel combustion for attorney review.