KANNAPOLIS — Barraged by angry auto mechanics, audio engineers, a disc jockey and a
lounge owner, Kannapolis officials have delayed tightening the city’s laws against
noise.Over and over,
Kannapolis business owners told officials Monday night that proposed changes to a noise
ordinance are too vague and may force them to move. So the City Council decided to put off
changes until late February to study them more.
Raymond D. Gibson, who runs a
trucking business on Lance Street near several houses, said he may have to move.
“I think we really need to
rethink this,” Gibson said. “If we ever get a ticket we’ll be forced to
move out of the city. We’ll have no choice. Because if we don’t, you’ll be
back next week. And next month. And next year.”
Danny “Dano” Simmons,
owner of Cyclone Cycle, a motorcycle shop on Centergrove Road, said the new ordinance
could keep him from working late even if his business makes no noise. That would hurt him
because he sometimes works as late as 2 in the morning in the summer, when motorcyclists
are out more.
“This thing is too
flip-flopped,” he said. “Every car in Kannapolis that has headers on it is going
to get cited. Let’s face it. This is still hot-rod country.”
Danny Childers, who operates Auto
World on South Ridge Avenue with his brother, questioned why the ordinance would ban
unmuffled air compressors.
“You need to be more
specific,” Childers said. “It seems sometimes that we’re trying to curtail
one problem, and we’re trying to make someone else suffer.”
Such conflicts between businesses
and residents are common in Kannapolis, police say. Residents complain of booming car
stereos, barking dogs, garages and a night club near Cannon Boulevard.
In the past year, Kannapolis
police received 539 complaints about loud music and issued citations for 52 of those,
Police Chief Paul Brown said. Police heard hundreds more complaints about other sources of
noise.
Since its adoption in 1991, the
current noise ordinance has permitted certain levels of sound based on how land is used,
the time of day and whether the owner has a permit for a party or other event. Police must
use a handheld decibel meter to measure noise and officers must be certified to use the
meter if the measurements are to hold up in court.
Most of the officers aren’t
certified, Brown acknowledged.
In other cases, by the time police
respond to a complaint, the noise has often stopped or moved away, Brown said.
The new ordinance would allow
those who make complaints to testify in court for a conviction, rather than just relying
on recorded decibel levels. That would hold people who complain more accountable, Brown
said.
“If we don’t have the
citizens backing up the complaints, then we’re not going to have a very effective
ordinance,” Brown said. “(Police) feel the ordinance just hasn’t been
effective in helping them deal with recurring noise problems. ... The officers want to
help people. They just feel that the current ordinance doesn’t let them.”
Rather than limit the volume of
noise, the new ordinance simply limits noises that are “unreasonably loud and
disturbing” — a term it doesn’t define. Violators could face a fine of up
to $100 and 30 days in prison.
Residents who ask for a permit to
temporarily breach the new ordinance would have to notify neighbors in a 1,000-foot radius
in writing.
Some noise sources would remain
exempt. They include trains, aircraft, athletic events, church bells, construction work
during “permissible” hours, safety signals and warning equipment, agricultural
equipment, noise from fireworks allowed under a valid permit, practice sessions by
marching bands and community concerts and street fairs conducted or allowed by City
Council.
William Safrit, the city’s
attorney, said he modeled the proposed ordinance after others in Salisbury, Charlotte and
Knightdale, a small town near Raleigh. He consulted Kannapolis police and district
attorneys serving Rowan and Cabarrus counties.
“We found that the ordinances
have been working very well in those jurisdictions,” he said. “The document as
it stands is a fair model.”
Doug Smith, who lives on East 21st
Street across from Sports Page, a lounge that features live music, said the city needs
noise laws that everyone can live with.
“We need to have a little
more respect for one another,” he said. “I think we’ve just got a big can
of nails, and we’re pouring them out all over the place and nobody knows how to pick
them up. It’s a shame and disgrace that this noise ordinance ever came up.”
In the end, City Council members
decided to study the issue more.
“If we’re going to do
this, let’s do it right,” said Richard Anderson, a former Kannapolis mayor and
councilman. Anderson was re-elected earlier this month and sworn in for another four-year
term Monday night.
The Kannapolis City Council also
reappointed Ken Geathers as its mayor pro tem and installed two other members: incumbent
Bob Misenheimer and newcomer Randy Cauthen. |
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