HomeMy WebLinkAboutA019 - letter from area residents with proposed revisions to Noise ordinance April 29, 1982
TO: Paul Goodland, Mayor, City of Ames
& Members of Ames City Council
FROM: Hubert M. Church , 2522 Knapp; Charles Sage, 435 Welch; Patricia & Douglas
Brown , 3212 West ; & Bruce Munson, 3223 West ; all of Ames
RE: Proposed Revisions of Noise Ordinance
About a year ago, almost by accident, a number of us citizens in the Campustown
and West Street areas organized ourselves into an informal study group to analyze
the increasing nuisance of noise in our respective neighborhoods . We had two ob-
jectives , which were: 1 ) to substantiate the belief that noise is currently a
significant problem; and 2) assuming the first premise to be true, to analyze our
current city ordinance and compare it with noise ordinances in other cities to de-
termine why ours is not effectively doing the task it was designed to do.
To accomplish our first objective, we met with neighborhood organizations and held
an open forum in your council chambers with the city manager and police personnel
in attendance to act as resource persons. We also reviewed and discussed with mem-
bers of three city commissions and committees the results of their forums and sur-
veys where this subject of noise was considered an issue. Our conclusion is that
noise is definitely considered a significant problem, that many citizens are upset
about it , but are hopeful the city will take action to rectify the situation.
The attached proposed revisions to the Ames Noise Ordinance are the results of our
second task. We reviewed the Des Moines , Iowa, and Boulder, Colorado, ordinances ,
along with another proposed ordinance currently under study in Iowa City, Iowa.
Most of our suggested revisions were extracted from the Boulder document , because
it comes from a city similar to ours in population, demographics and size and be-
cause the Boulder ordinance is a revision of an initial ordinance that likewise
proved ineffective.
We would appreciate it if you would read over these proposed changes at your May
11 , 1982, council meeting and refer them to the city staff for further study. We
think it would be appropriate for the City Council to consider a revised noise or-
dinance sometime next Fall , preferably in September.
We will share our findings with you and the staff and will be most willing to serve
in any research capacity that might be helpful .
Thank you.