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Council debates nuisance ordinance rewrite; staff to simplify language and move noise rules into zone code
Summary
Councilmembers raised concerns that the proposed Nuisance Ordinance recodification could overreach into agricultural activity and aesthetic standards; staff said the draft will be simplified and the noise provisions relocated to zoning sections for clarity.
Councilmembers spent substantial time discussing Ordinance 2025-7-17, a recodification and revision of the town nuisance code.
Several members said the code should protect health and safety but not regulate whether properties "looked nice." "A nuisance code was necessary to protect health and safety but not to ensure properties 'looked nice.' That went beyond the role of government," TCM Bruce Ahlstrom said during debate. Councilmembers also raised concerns about protecting routine agricultural operations from being treated as nuisance.
Town Clerk Beckki Endicott said the draft before Council uses simpler language than the current code but agreed it could be made clearer; she added the town attorney recommended moving the noise provisions into the zoning sections to make enforcement more geographically precise. Endicott told the council she would simplify the ordinance further and bring it back for continued discussion.
No final vote was taken on the ordinance at the Oct. 2 meeting.
