Collegiate Times

Blacksburg officials are revising the town noise ordinance in response to a Virginia Supreme Court decision declaring Virginia Beach's ordinance to be "unconstitutional."

The court declared Virginia Beach's noise ordinance based on a vague clause that relied on the judgment of a "reasonable person," according to Blacksburg town attorney Larry Spencer.

The plaintiffs also claimed that several terms in the ordinance, including "unnecessary," "loud," and "disturbing" were "purely subjective and unconstitutionally vague."

Spencer explained that Blacksburg's noise ordinance, similar to Virginia Beach's, also lacks specification on what constitutes a violation.

"Most of our noise ordinance has examples like the noise cannot be audible at a certain distance, say 50 feet or 100 feet, but there are some places in our ordinance where we did use that same standard as Virginia Beach, so there are a couple places we had to trim out references to the 'reasonable person,'" Spencer said. "We're just making sure everything in it is as objective as possible."

Though Blacksburg's noise ordinance is different from Virginia Beach's ordinance in some respects, Spencer said there are some similarities that need to be clarified.

"The Virginia Supreme Court decision from April 2009 invalidated Virginia Beach's noise ordinance," Spencer said. "I was following that case and our ordinance is somewhat different from theirs but also shared some elements. So these provisions are our reaction to the Virginia Beach ruling."

Revisions, though basic, will include changing phrases such as a "noise disturbance" to "excessive noise" and defining it as "any sound which annoys or disturbs humans or which causes or tends to cause an adverse psychological or physiological effect on humans."

The ordinance also includes 19 examples of what noise would be deemed "excessive" in regard to radios, vehicles, mass outdoor gatherings and large party nuisances.

Because Blacksburg is a college town, noise violations are often a problem.

"Through the years, noise violations have always been a topic of discussion for Blacksburg residents and are usually one of the main issues," said Sergeant Nathan O'Dell of the Blacksburg police department. "Noise violations definitely dominate the calls for the weekend."

According to records, 1,764 noise violation complaint calls were received from Aug. 1 2008 to Sept. 1, 2009. Of those calls, only 81 were issued a fine.

"I think its better to tighten up the ordinance and for it to be in compliance with the state court," said Matt Hanratty, Blacksburg housing and neighborhood service manager.

"There are a fair amount of noise complaints and a lot of times it's the folks living off campus because they don't know the exact (noise violation)."

O'Dell said revising the laws will help clarify boundaries within the ordinance for Blacksburg residents and help them to avoid getting a violation.

"I think it will help spell it out better for the community and will specify what excessive noise is," O'Dell said.

If revised, town officials do not anticipate any change in enforcement or severity in consequences.

"I don't think the ordinance will be stricter than it was. I think it will be tightened up after getting rid of the vague phrases," Spencer said.

Blacksburg Town Council will vote on the ordinance revisions Sept. 8, and if accepted, the revisions will be effective immediately.