On Wednesday night, the Newport City Council passed amendments to the city’s noise ordinance aimed at making it easier for police to enforce excessive noise from vehicles using new noise monitoring technology. The amendments, which were approved during the council’s regular meeting, are part of an ongoing effort to address quality of life issues related to noise in the city.
“Tackling neighbourhood noise that is excessive is a quality of life issue,” said Councilor Mark Aramli, who brought forward the resolution. “If we could, we’re just going to let the councilor finish.”
The amendments adjust the way noise is measured to make it easier to enforce and request that the city deploy noise trailers. The city currently has two noise trailers funded, which are being updated with firmware and backend development to bring the whole data communication structure together.
“They are still being updated with some firmware, and there’s some backend development happening to bring the whole data communication structure of how these things work together, so that the trailers themselves are not issuing tickets, they’re simply collecting data that the police department can review and determine from that data whether or not a citation is warranted,” Councilor Aramli explained.
The latest information from the city indicates that the first of those trailers should be ready sometime around the first week of Jul., with the second one shortly thereafter. There will be a period where these trailers and any data they capture will only result in warnings, not citations.
After the adjustment period is over, the city will move to $250 citations for any motor vehicle that violates the noise ordinance. Newport will be one of the first cities in the country to roll out this technology.
“I’m very proud of the work of the IT department and the police department and what they did in putting this technology together,” said Councilor Romley. “We will be one of the first cities in the country to be rolling this stuff out.”
Chief Duffy’s department is typically very responsive when residents run into noise-related issues that they think are excessive. Residents can call the police department’s non-emergency line at 847-1306 to report concerns.
“It is within your right to call the police department, let them know,” said Councilor Aramli. “I know of a number of residents who have emailed and called into the police department for concerns about noise. And I think Chief Duffy has made, you know, those issues a priority and has sent out enforcement with their decibel meters, you know, to check on these situations.”
The council also heard from a resident who raised concerns about the noise generated by leaf blowers in the city. “The noisiest thing in this city that is constant every day is the leaf blowers that are unbelievable,” said TJ Provo, a Newport resident. “And if you live in this town, you know what I’m talking about. It goes. You can hear them ten blocks away.”
Provo suggested that the city consider addressing the noise from leaf blowers as well. “If we’re going to go with, let’s watch out for the noise for Newport, there’s a lot of different avenues that you can go there to check about noise and restrain a little bit,” he said.
The council acknowledged Provo’s concerns and said they would take them into consideration as they continue to refine how the city can enforce noise ordinances. The amendments to the noise ordinance passed unanimously.
Ordinance
