Complaint Letter - Main - Noise Ordinance Issue OF
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City of Okeechobee
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Brian Whitehall Office of the City Administrator
March 15, 2012
Mr. & Mrs. Ron Main
101 NE8`hAv
Okeechobee, FL 34974
RE: City noise ordinance
Dear Mr. & Mrs. Main,
I'm not exactly timely on my response to your appearance but wanted to reduce to writing some
of our thoughts.
First, on behalf of the Council, I want to thank you for your productive approach to your
complaint. Almost everyone can understand your frustration and we have tried to address it as
best we can. As a result of your interest the City has evaluated and reevaluated our'noise
standard'.
In our research we examined the validity of your requests.
1. 'Continuous period of 10 minutes or more changed to repetitive unnatural noise (music
and/or voices) that are verified by a police officer' is understandable from your
perspective but is too loosely defined for Code compliance because the ambiguity is
subject to interpretation.
2. 'Giving the police the recourse, such as issuing citations or making people lower the
unnatural noise'is already provided by the code as all officers are empowered to uphold
the City ordinance. The City attempts to use the Code Enforcement Dept in these cases
in order to rely on historical consistency.
We reviewed the Martin County ordinance on the matter and found one disparity that may be
valid which is reducing the amount of time (from say 10 minutes to one minute) an extraordinary
noise can endure at an increased decibel. But, for the most part, the City Code and enforcement
is purposefully different than the Treasure Coast. What separates Okeechobee from the coast in
some regards are our stringencies. Clearly no one believes a citizen of ours should suffer undo
aggravation nor put up with clearly defined nuisances. And, you agree that the City has given
this matter our upmost attention, visiting the site on numerous occasions along with formal
warning issuance with the threat of ticketing until the merchant's investment of a privacy fence
on your property.
55 S.E. Third Avenue • Okeechobee, Florida 34974-2932 • (863) 763-3372 • Fax: (863) 763-1686
March 15, 2012
Page 2
1 know you're looking for a permanent solution and this letter is to assure you that we don't think
the underlying Code change is the issue, but rather the enforcement that will appease you.
We'll do our best in the future to make that a top priority.
Again, thanks for your comments!
Sincerely,
Brian hit all
Adm' sit r or
C: Police and Code Enforcement Depts