GREENFIELD — City councilors have started discussing plans to develop a citywide noise ordinance after Precinct 7 residents Kate Broughton and Mary Sirum presented a plan to the Community Relations Committee on Monday to draft local noise regulations.
City councilors who are assigned to the Community Relations Committee discussed bringing the idea of a draft noise ordinance before the Appointments and Ordinances Committee for further discussion.
Broughton and Sirum, who are founders of the Precinct 7 Neighbors Network, began their neighborhood organization after meeting with Mayor Ginny Desorgher to voice their grievances over alleged excessive noise coming from events held at the Franklin County Fairgrounds on Wisdom Way, but noise complaints have emerged across the city.
“We pretty much reached a point where the work we’ve already done has hit a new stage,” Broughton said. “There are many types of noise that are making people’s lives uncomfortable. … We were just trying to figure out what parameters there were to help us negotiate with the fairgrounds in terms of mitigating noise.”
Expanding the group’s research into noise pollution, Broughton said she and Sirum studied roughly 30 different communities’ noise regulations and enforcement measures.
Sirum explained that for a future ordinance to be enforceable, specific parameters on noise, area and time must be set to give it “some teeth.” She also described different kinds of noise disturbances that have been reported to her, ranging from “acute,” which she described as loud music or kids playing loudly, to “chronic,” or constant intrusive noises from businesses.
Making note of the city’s efforts to boost housing development in the years to come, Sirum said she expects noise complaints will increase, further arguing for City Council to get ahead of the issue.
“To get something like this in place first, instead of having it be reactionary after there’s issues that pop, makes more sense,” she said. “Maybe it started out with one issue in one precinct, but we want to make sure everyone’s included all over town.”
Precinct 7 City Councilor William “Wid” Perry noted the council last considered drafting a noise ordinance under former Mayor William Martin’s administration. He added that those efforts failed, largely because of the notion that a noise ordinance could not be enforced.
Precinct 6 City Councilor Patricia Williams, who also serves on the Appointments and Ordinances Committee, suggested that Broughton and Sirum reappear before the committee with a rough draft of the proposed ordinance in hand.
“If there was some sort of a draft, even in crude form, we could take it into that committee and polish it,” Williams said. “It would definitely go through more than one meeting, I’m sure, because there’s probably going to be a lot of interest in something like that.”
Explaining that she has heard numerous complaints of leaf blowers causing disturbances in the city, Desorgher also suggested that business owners, particularly landscapers, be invited into community discourse on noise regulations.
Desorgher added that those who have been most impacted by noise pollution should also be invited to attend future public meetings and comment on the proposed ordinance.
“That is a huge impact to anybody who owns that kind of a business,” Desorgher said. “I can certainly think of a reason why a mayor would veto something like that, if it meant that people’s businesses would go out of existence.”