By Sharron Luttrell
Voters will decide at Special Town Meeting Tuesday whether to pass a noise bylaw that would set volume and time limits for excessive noise and allow the town to fine repeat offenders.
The bylaw would set a maximum allowable sound level of 55 decibels, comparable to a normal conversation, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and 45 decibels at night.
“The high-level way of looking at this is, just as you’re responsible for stormwater running off your property, just like you’re responsible for light pollution and your spotlights going off your property, you’re responsible for noises going off your property,” General Bylaws Review Committee member Carl Hommel said at a recent meeting of the committee.
The bylaw would allow homeowners to do work on their property that produces noise between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., Mondays-Thursdays, and between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., Fridays-Sundays and on holidays.
For contractors, quitting time would be 7 p.m. during the week, and 6 p.m. on Saturdays. Contractors would not be permitted to work on Sundays or holidays.
Residents would call in complaints to the non-emergency police department number. An enforcement officer from the Board of Health or the police department would use a sound-level meter to measure the noise level at the property line.
The penalty for violating the bylaw would be:
- A verbal warning for the first violation
- $100 fine for the second violation
- $300 fine for the third and each subsequent violation
Exempt from the bylaw would be sirens, activities related to emergency work, road work and farming activity. Also not covered would be barking dogs and loudly crowing roosters, which are covered under separate town ordinances.
Home and car alarms would be exempt as long as they are deactivated within 15 minutes of the time of the complaint.
Residents or businesses would be able to request a one-time permit exempting them from the bylaw, such as for fireworks or parades. The permitting process would require applicants to notify abutters and appear before the Select Board for a public hearing.
Access Special Town Meeting documents, includng the full text of Article 6, the proposed bylaw.
The Special Town Meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m., at Miscoe Hill Middle School. See the Town Administrator’s Report for summaries of the 21 warrant articles.
