Lansing City Council declined to adopt a comprehensive rewrite of the city’s noise ordinance on Dec. 15 after lengthy debate about enforcement mechanics and potential criminal penalties.

The proposed update would have removed decibel thresholds and replaced them with a plainly audible standard measured at specified distances and times of day, and included misdemeanor penalties (up to 90 days) for certain violations. Council Member Jackson argued the draft would criminalize common conduct and disproportionately affect renters and low-income residents, saying, “Criminal should not be,” in reference to making routine noise a misdemeanor.

Council considered an amendment that would have converted all violations under Chapter 6.54 to civil infractions rather than misdemeanors; the amendment required a drafting change and a brief recess to add the penalty-section language. The amendment failed on a roll call (3 yeas, 5 nays). On final adoption the ordinance was tied 4–4 and therefore not adopted.

Supporters, including Vice President Carter and others involved in the public-safety review, said the rewrite was designed to make enforcement practicable for motor-vehicle noise and other persistent, intentionally amplified disturbances that had been hard to prosecute under a decibel-based regime. Carter told colleagues the change was meant to streamline enforcement against artificially loud mufflers and vehicles that rattle windows at great distances.

Opponents warned the ordinance as written could invite police contacts for minor neighborhood disputes and suggested a narrower targeted approach for motor-vehicle modifications. Council Member Jackson urged tailoring to focus on artificially created vehicle noise instead of broad community behaviors.

Result: the council failed to adopt the noise ordinance (4 yeas, 4 nays). Council recorded a 3–5 defeat on the civil-infraction amendment, and the clerk recorded the final 4–4 tie that left the existing ordinance unchanged.