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Not Deaf Member
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With great interest I read on the Northwest Observer that Oak Ridge has enacted a noise ordinance. Does Summerfield have a noise ordinance? If so could you publish it please. If not, what is the city council doing about it?? Not Deaf...yet |
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JamesAttaway Member 
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Not deaf If the SF TC has'nt adopted an ordinace, the county does have one in place. you can contact the Sheriff Dept at 545-5943 JamesAttaway |
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JamesAttaway Member
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Last edited on Jul 16th, 2007 07:17 pm by JamesAttaway |
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Not Deaf Member
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In regards to noise in Summerfield, I have contacted the Sheriff department to no avail. The Summerfield council should adopt a noise ordinance just like Oak Ridge has done, they (Oak Ridge) also had the option of calling the sheriff office, but they went ahead any way with their own ordinance. You figure out why. Not deaf...yet |
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Jim Flynt Member
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Not Deaf wrote: (Oak Ridge) also had the option of calling the sheriff office, but they went ahead any way with their own ordinance. You figure out why. To answer your last question: Probably because Oak Ridge and the Oak Ridge ordinances are light years ahead of Summerfield and Stokesdale. Anyone who has ever had a noise problem and relied on the Guilford County Noise Ordinance and Guilford County Sheriff's Department to enforce it, knows what I am talking about. The Guilford County Noise Ordinance "ain't" worth the paper it is written on. Correct me if I am wrong, but on top of that, I think Oak Ridge has their own zoning and ordinance enforcement officer while the other two communities don't, but rely instead on Guilford County to enforce infringements and violations. And since Guilford County only has ONE zoning enforcement officer to patrol the whole entire county, good luck if you expect any relief in ordinance enforcement. |
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Jim Flynt Member
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By the way, our so called 'leaders' in Stokesdale haven't seen fit to adopt a tree ordinance for Stokesdale either. Maybe they will get around to it after all our trees have been cut and are gone! |
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JamesAttaway Member
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Jim, While you are correct in your response, the Deputy provided by Stokesdale to augment coverage will agressively pursue noise complaints and shut it down if in violation of the ordinance. I would like to know the type of noise in question, was it ball park noise? noise from a passing vehicle or a loud party? I still encourage her to Call the District 1 office and to speak with Lt. Fox to see if he can help with her specific problem. Thanks for your input. James |
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JamesAttaway Member
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Good point about a tree ordinance What would you or other residents like too see? James Attaway Member- Stokesdale Planning board Public Safety Committee BTW- that would be a good topic under Stokesdale |
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Not Deaf Member
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I would like to see a tax credit to those property owners that have some acreage with woods, they contribute more to our environment than any one else. Also while we are on the subject of a tax credit, how about our veterans??? |
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Cracker Jax Member 
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Summerfield does have their own noise ordinance that addresses unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noises Not Deaf, but I'm not sure how much (or if) it differs from the Guilford County noise ordinance. It's still pretty much up to the individual to call the sherrif's department if they have a complaint. (edited because I found the answer to my question on another thread. Last edited on Jul 17th, 2007 04:19 am by Cracker Jax |
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Not Deaf Member
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Could de Northwest Observer publish the Summerfield Noise Ordinance please. I would like to know what the council considers "unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noises" |
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Jim Flynt Member
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Not Deaf wrote: Could de Northwest Observer publish the Summerfield Noise Ordinance please. I would like to know what the council considers "unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noises" In 1964, US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart tried to explain "hard-core" pornography, or what is obscene, by saying, "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . but I know it when I see it . . . " I think it is much the same with noise. Most of perhaps can't clearly define it, but we know it when we hear it. Which makes a determination of what constitutes noise somewhat subjective and open to opinion, thus making it somewhat difficult to enforce or prosecute except in egregious cases. |
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Cracker Jax Member
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I think Jim's right Not deaf.... Enforcement of any noise ordinance is pretty subjective. Pretty much depends on what the offense is and who happens to answer the call. Maybe the NWO will publish parts of it, but it's pretty wordy. If not, you can get a copy of it from Town Hall since they don't have it up on the website yet. Meanwhile, here are the definitions you asked for from SF's ordinance. (1) Unreasonably Loud - Noise which is substantially incompatible with the time and location where created to the extent that it creates an actual or imminent interference with peace or good order. (2) Disturbing - Noise which is perceived by a person of ordinary sensibilities as interrupting the normal peace and calm of the area. (3) Unnecessary - Any excessive or unusually loud sound or any sound which is of such character, intensity and duration as to disturb the peace and quiet of any neighborhood or which disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of any person, and being a type of sound which could be lessened or otherwise controlled by the maker without undly restricting his conduct. Then it goes on to explain the factors to be used to determine if a noise fits into these categories. Factors such as time of day, proximity to homes, and whether or not the noise is recurrent, intermittent or constant etc..... |
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Jim Flynt Member
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Crackah, do you happen to know whether the Summerfield Noise Ordinance has any special exemptions for spousal snoring? |
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Cracker Jax Member
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I think if you'll re-read the definitions above, you'll find that spousal snoring will fit into any of those categories..... |
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Not Deaf Member
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The way Jim Flint writes, all capitalized and in red, shows a loud person, one that would not know how to distinguish a bothersome noise from a melodic one. If Summerfield has the same noise ordinance as the county, it is useless, I have called about neighbors using their land (residential) for all terrain vehicle (without mufflers) races and competitions, the noise was truly unbearable and went for days, the deputy said that it was nothing he could do about it. Enough said about this subject, at least from my point of view Not deaf yet..but |
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DOGGETTJA Member 
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I think Summerfield basically has the same ordinance as Guilford County which pretty much only addresses loud noises after 11 at night as I remember. Summerfield had a problem with a dog club in residential areas and there was not much that could be done unless the training went on past 11. |
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mstone Member
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Just a quick fyi... Oak Ridge just recently passed it's own noise ordinance. I believe it's posted on our web site. Not a bad idea as developments move into the areas and people start living a little closer together. I think we adequately addressed "noise" from farm operations, legal hunting and target practice, and ORMA's cannon among other things. |
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Jim Flynt Member
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mstone wrote: I think we adequately addressed "noise" from ORMA's cannon among other things. Wonder if the Summerfield Noise Ordinance made any accommodations for all the racket from their loose cannons? Last edited on Jul 18th, 2007 09:28 pm by Jim Flynt |
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mstone Member
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Jim, TOO FUNNY!!!  or sadly, maybe not. |
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Steve Adkins Member 
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Maybe off subject......oh well I've made comments to many air travellers that flight attendant babble should be categorized as noise pollution. I carry ear plugs to block it out, when the pre-flight message starts "please listen to this important safety announcement........to fasten your seatbelts, insert the metal tab into the buckle.................." Tell me FAA isn't 40 years behind the times. I heard one young flight attendant improvise "in the unlikely event of a water landing (since we're not flying over any water, but I gotta say this anyway), your seat bottom cushion can be used as flotation device. so if we find any water to land in, hang onto that seat cushion, and paddle, paddle, paddle, |
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S. Smith Moderator
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Jim Flynt wrote: Not Deaf wrote:(Oak Ridge) also had the option of calling the sheriff office, but they went ahead any way with their own ordinance. You figure out why. Thanks for giving credit to Oak Ridge, but I don't know that I'd say they are light years ahead of the other towns. If I'm not mistaken, the other towns passed the county noise ordinance some time ago. Oak Ridge did not. As a result, if the sheriff's department was called in, they had no authority to do anything and all they could do was ask that someone quieten down. If someone called the town about noise, the town administrator would contact that person, tell them there had been complaints and try to work out a solution. (This would generally happen if there was an ongoing complaint as opposed to someone having a one-time incident, like a party.) The sheriff's department then asked Oak Ridge to pass an ordinance (preferably the same as Guilford County's so it would be easier for officers to enforce -- not one ordinance within the Oak Ridge town limits and something totally different in unincorporated parts of the county or one of the other towns, which could be right next door or across the road). Oak Ridge did so, and I believe the only change they made to the county ordinance was to allow noise at Oak Ridge Military Academy so they could still play reveille every morning and shoot off their cannon during ceremonies. Oak Ridge does not have its own enforcement officer, although they have discussed hiring one. Like Stokesdale, they contract for those services through Guilford County. Summerfield does have its own enforcement officer through its planning department, although they haven't actually had a planner since about January so Michael Brandt had been handling those jobs as well. In the last couple of months, the Summerfield Town Council agreed to hire an outside firm to do ordinance enforcement. I remember it was very expensive, something like $68/hr., but they agreed because Michael Brandt said he just didn't have time to get things like that done along with the other duties he's handling. |
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Jim Flynt Member
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S. Smith wrote: Oak Ridge does not have its own enforcement officer, although they have discussed hiring one. Like Stokesdale, they contract for those services through Guilford County. Summerfield does have its own enforcement officer through its planning department, although they haven't actually had a planner since about January so Michael Brandt had been handling those jobs as well. In the last couple of months, the Summerfield Town Council agreed to hire an outside firm to do ordinance enforcement. I remember it was very expensive, something like $68/hr., but they agreed because Michael Brandt said he just didn't have time to get things like that done along with the other duties he's handling. Sandra, I am thinking that I had seen where Oak Ridge was in fact enforcing their own sign ordinance and actually had someone from the Town of Oak Ridge removing signs which are/were in violation of the Oak Ridge Sign Ordinance. Am I incorrect in that understanding? That is why I had thought that Oak Ridge had their own zoning and planning enforcement officer or 3rd party service. I appreciate what the other two towns are trying to do, but unfortunately, in hiring out zoning enforcement services to Guilford County, many fail to realize that Guilford County has only (as recently as a couple of months ago at least) one zoning enforcement officer for the entire county, and this enforcement officer does not work nights or weekends. Having once had a complaint with noise from an adjacent property due to the illegal flying of a model airplane club, both myself and the Guilford County Sheriff's Department found ourselves quite frustrated in the months it took to stop this land use and zoning violation as well as the accompanying noise issues. That is the reason behind my comment that if you suffer from noise pollution on a neighboring property, good luck in your efforts to stop it. It can and likely will take months, if ever, for a resolution, given the limitations of the ordinances and lack of enforcement personnel (especially on nights and weekends). I think all three towns would be well served to take a closer look at the noise problem potential and seek to find better solutions, including more stringent and immediate enforcement. |
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S. Smith Moderator
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Oak Ridge officials frequently enforce the sign ordinance if it is a sign that can easily be handled by them. If it is a yard sale or a realtor's sign that is stuck up on the side of the road or nailed to a pole, they will confiscate it themselves. If it is more difficult to deal with than that, such as a more permanent sign or one up on a building, they call the enforcement officer. What do you have in mind when you say "I think all three towns would be well served to take a closer look at the noise problem potential and seek to find better solutions, including more stringent and immediate enforcement"? Do you mean hiring a shared enforcement officer? |
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Not Deaf Member
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Sandra you asked " What do you have in mind when you say "I think all three towns would be well served to take a closer look at the noise problem potential and seek to find better solutions, including more stringent and immediate enforcement"? Do you mean hiring a shared enforcement officer?" Very good question and implied solution. If the three towns worked together on this problem and hired the necessary enforcers to cover the towns, it would probably be more efficient and less costly. It would be a good topic for you to address via the Northwest Observer..... Thanks in advance for your consideration. |
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S. Smith Moderator
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Not Deaf wrote: Sandra you asked " What do you have in mind when you say "I think all three towns would be well served to take a closer look at the noise problem potential and seek to find better solutions, including more stringent and immediate enforcement"? Do you mean hiring a shared enforcement officer?" If this is what you and other residents want to see, I think you should bring it up to your town council. Of course, whether it's noise, signs, garbage, zoning, etc., an ordinance is only as good as its enforcement. But sometimes even a letter from the town or a call from a town official or employee saying "We've been getting complaints about noise at your place" will make some people quieten down. Have you notified the town that there is a problem? |
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GRITS Member
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S. Smith wrote:
Is there an ordinance for CYBER NOISE POLLUTION? |
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Not Deaf Member
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If this is what you and other residents want to see, I think you should bring it up to your town council. Of course, whether it's noise, signs, garbage, zoning, etc., an ordinance is only as good as its enforcement. But sometimes even a letter from the town or a call from a town official or employee saying "We've been getting complaints about noise at your place" will make some people quieten down. Have you notified the town that there is a problem? Yes, the town and the sheriff were notified.... no results. It is very difficult for one person to try a coordination of efforts with three towns, Summerfield at the most gives you 5 minutes. Thats why I suggested that the Northwest Observer could address it via your editorials. If you all cannot do it, nobody can, thanks. |
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DOGGETTJA Member
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Not Deaf- You need to get a group to address the Towns administrators. Get up a petition, have people come and speak at Town meetings. Write articles to the NWO. "Squeaky wheels get oiled." |
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S. Smith Moderator
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DOGGETTJA wrote: Not Deaf- You need to get a group to address the Towns administrators. Get up a petition, have people come and speak at Town meetings. Write articles to the NWO. "Squeaky wheels get oiled." Great suggestions, Jane. We try our best to address issues affecting people in the local towns, but we can't do it all. I'd also suggest sending a letter or email or giving a call to all your council members. As a citizen (and totally separate from this paper), I know I do that fairly often when something comes up that concerns me. Just like people are talking about on the thread about the Stokesdale Post Office, something is more likely to be done if citizens voice their opinions to their local officials. Last edited on Jul 26th, 2007 02:06 pm by S. Smith |
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Too funny Jim.