Chesterfield County still has no noise laws.
The county's Board of Supervisors last night deferred for 30 days a vote on a draft ordinance to replace one tossed out in April after the Virginia Supreme Court found the language to be unconstitutionally vague.
The board wanted additional time to allow county staff to work more on the ordinance.
In the meantime, "police are still responding to complaints," said Assistant County Attorney Tara A. McGee, but added, "during the next 30 days they cannot write a summons."
In a nightclub case, Virginia Beach's noise ordinance, which prohibited "loud, disturbing and unnecessary" noise, was determined by the court to be overly subjective. Chesterfield's laws used the same language.
The new ordinance would be based primarily on proximity, unlike Virginia Beach and other localities that have moved to codes based on decibel levels.
Chesterfield opted not to go that route to avoid equipping all police officers with $2,000 decibel meters.
"We achieve a high rate of voluntary compliance," McGee said.
Chesterfield resident Roberta Hawkins asked supervisors to move forward with an ordinance as soon as possible.
"Please pass something," she said. "I mean, it's ridiculous, you go down the road and you're bouncing from the car next to you. . . . I'm ready to move because no one will help us."
The proposed laws would prohibit:
- music or television noise audible within another person's home, or from 50 feet from the source, between the hours of midnight and 7 a.m.;
- noise from animals that could be heard within another person's home or from 50 feet away, from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.;
- an animal making noise audible from another home or 50 feet away once a minute for 10 consecutive minutes at any time of day; and
- music from vehicles that could be heard from more than 50 feet away, as well as noise in residential areas between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. from lawn maintenance or trash and recycling collection.
Midlothian District Supervisor Daniel A. Gecker raised questions over whether the language was still too vague, noting that a complainant's windows being open or closed made a difference.
"From my perspective, there are enough questions that we ought to go ahead and defer it," he said.
"I always worry about unintended consequences," said Bermuda District Supervisor Dorothy Jaeckle, suggesting the deferral "so we don't end up passing something we have to undo in six months."
Violations of the ordinance previously carried a $50 fine and $72 in court costs. The board will have the option next month of adjusting the fine.
Chesterfield police received 3,537 noise complaints last year. Only 17 summonses were issued based on those complaints. An additional 148 summonses were issued by police based on vehicle noise.
Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or whester@timesdispatch.com.
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