HOT SPRINGS -- "Plainly audible and disruptive" is the standard that determines if noise is a nuisance or unreasonable under the noise ordinance the city adopted in 2001, a determination made by police officers who respond to a noise complaint.
An ordinance the Hot Springs Board of Directors will consider tonight would repeal the 2001 law, replacing the arbitrary standard with one based on decibel levels measured at the boundary of the property where the noise originates. City Attorney Brian Albright told the board last week that having a standard based on sound readings will help with enforcement.
"Most of this is already on the books," Albright said, referring to prohibitions and exemptions listed in the new ordinance. "The reason that it's difficult to enforce is because we have no quantitative measure to do so. The decibel level gives you a quantitative method to measure."
Sound level or volume is one of 10 criteria that could be used to determine if a noise is unreasonable under the new ordinance. The hour when the noise occurs, its duration, frequency and location also can be part of the determination.
The ordinance deems amplified noise unreasonable in areas zoned for residential use if it occurs from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and exceeds 60-70 decibels measured at the boundary of the property where the noise originates.
In nonresidential zones, noise in excess of 85-95 decibels during the hours of 8 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday is prohibited. Levels of up to 90-95 decibels are allowed in nonresidential zones from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. In the central business district, or C-1, zone, which includes most of downtown, noise levels of up to 90-100 decibels are permitted.
Amplified sound "clearly and distinctly" heard outside the property or building where it originates is prohibited during nighttime hours, midnight to 8 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. Friday and Saturday, in nonresidential zones.
"We'll have to purchase equipment," Albright told the board. "Each shift of the police department will have a noise meter. If there's a noise issue, someone will bring the meter and there will be a reading."
The ordinance exempts "events at a facility used for the production, display and promotion of indoor and/or outdoor musical events that has been designed and built with inherent architectural design, landscape and topography measures to reduce sound to minimal intrusive levels and has been approved by the planning commission."
Albright told the board the exemption applies to The Majestic, the outdoor entertainment venue proposed for the Majestic property on Park Avenue. The real estate contract with R.A. Wilson Enterprises the board approved last month stipulated an outdoor entertainment venue will be built on the site.
"A music venue that might be built on the Majestic property, it would be excluded as the ordinance is written," Albright told the board. "There's also a provision for C-1, so if you want to go with the C-1 and not have a specified description for an outdoor venue such as that, you certainly have that option."
The ordinance would prohibit sound amplification within public rights of way or city parks unless authorized by special event permit.
"People have a First Amendment right to sing and play within the public right of way, but they can't amplify the sound using any method," Albright told the board. "Guitars are fine. Amplification is not. (The ordinance) includes (Kenneth Adair Memorial Park), unless there's a special event permit. We have periodic concerts that are city-sanctioned events."