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Committee debates decibel limits for noise enforcement, directs staff to pilot and report back
Summary
Committee members debated adding decibel-based standards to the noise ordinance, raised enforcement, calibration and exemption concerns, and directed staff to gather pilot and cost data (including possible UGA partnership) and return in about a year.
Committee members spent substantial time debating whether to add decibel-based enforcement to the city’s noise ordinance and how that approach would interact with the existing plainly audible standard and commercial exemptions.
City counsel presented a redlined draft that added optional sound-level meter assessment to the ordinance alongside the existing plainly audible test. The draft drew on another community’s language (presenter noted it came from Gainesville, Fla.) and referenced OSHA workplace-noise thresholds as a basis for maximum-decibel/duration combinations.
Legal staff warned of constitutional and practical hurdles. One attorney cautioned that seizing speakers ‘‘is gonna be construed as a regulation on speech’’ and said the office would not advise adopting seizure authority; the attorney recommended the city rely on citation-and-prosecution procedures instead.
Operational concerns dominated the discussion: calibration and documentation requirements for meters, training for officers, heat and wear on mobile devices, the difficulty of isolating a single sound source when multiple sources operate, and the potential cost of purchasing and maintaining equipment. Members noted community events (porch fests, a Fort Smith festival, stadium concerts) that could be unintentionally captured by broad decibel limits.
A committee member suggested postponing a full decibel rollout and instead piloting measurements with local experts. "Maybe contact the university to see if they have equipment before we purchase for a pilot," the member said, proposing the University of Georgia’s speech-and-hearing clinic as a partner to test meters and training.
The committee agreed to move the already-approved ordinance portions forward and to direct staff to gather preliminary cost and pilot options, with a follow-up report expected in roughly one year. The panel did not adopt a decibel standard at this meeting; it directed staff to return with test results and cost estimates before making a final decision.
