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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 2019-02-13Codes & Ordinances Committee Meeting of February 13, 2019 — 5:30 P.M. Minutes PleaseNote: Audio was only available for the second half of the meeting. Present: Bill Goodman, Chair; Pat Leary, Eva Hoffmann, Bill King, Eric Levine and Yvonne Fogarty Staff support: Marty Moseley, Asst. Director of Code Enforcement; Susan Ritter, Director of Planning; Chris Balestra, Planner; Paulette Rosa, Town Clerk; and Susan Brock, Attorney for the Town 1. Member Comments/Concerns. None. 2. Approval of Minutes from November 28, 2018 COC meeting. Approved with minor typos submitted by Susan Brock. Eric moved, Pat seconded, unanimous. 3. Continued Discussion on Town Noise Ordinance (Town Code Chapter 184). The committee started reviewing the redlined version of the revised noise ordinance that was provided by Susan Brock at the 1/9/19 COC meeting. Discussion began on page 184:11 of the document, at the top of the page, with the definition of "Residential Zone" (§184-4). Chris asked why the Neighborhood Commercial and Community Commercial Zones were included in this definition, since these zones aren't residential zones, although they do allow a small percentage of residential mixed use in commercial buildings, provided that the residential use is secondary to the commercial use. The committee discussed mixed use buildings and how the noise ordinance might be affected if the two zones were removed from the definition. Ultimately, the committee decided to delete the two zones from the Residential Zone definition. The committee also discussed Susan Brock's redlined additions and deletions to the definition. After a short conversation about the use of the term "predominant" versus "principal", the committee decided to change the 6`" line from the bottom to read "wherein one of the predominant land uses is residential." The committee also rejected the proposed change in the last line and deleted the words "either" and "agricultural", so the last line in the definition will now read "wherein the predominant intended land use is residential." The committee then moved on to the next redlined section of the revised law (§184-5) on page 184:11. The committee accepted the change in the title of the section to read "General prohibition on unreasonable noise." Susan explained that she reviewed her research and determined that the proposed language in 184-5A. was the clearest and most direct way to communicate the intent of the section. The committee agreed and approved the changes, but modified the sentence to add a comma after the word "continue", so item A will now read "No person shall make, continue, cause or permit to be made any unreasonable noise." The committee also accepted the redlined changes proposed in item B. The group moved on to the proposed changes in Article II — Unlawful Noise Sources, page 184:12. In §184-6, the purpose section, Susan explained the basis for the legalese in this section, stating that it is the language that has been held up in court. The committee discussed whether the public would be confused by the legal terms "prima facie" and "enumeration" and that "enumeration would be changed to "listing of acts". In §184-7A, the committee engaged in a lengthy discussion as to whether the proposed wording would adequately protect apartment renters and property owners alike from sound amplifying equipment. Ultimately, the group approved the proposed changes. For §184-713, Chris questioned whether the definition of person was needed here at all, since a "person" was already defined in the main definition section of the law. She felt that B seemed unnecessarily redundant, especially since it was covered in the definition section and also repeated nearly word for word in §184-913 as well. After discussing the similarities and differences in §184-713 and §184-913 at length and whether or not they could or should be combined, modified, or clarified, the committee ultimately decided to leave both sections as written, except to delete the words "person defined" in the beginning of item §184-713. The committee then moved on to §184-8 (Construction and other machinery). In response to the yellow highlighting related to garbage collection, the committee decided to take out garbage collection in both §184-8A and B and deal with that separately. Susan will write a new section in the law that deals specifically with garbage collection. In response to the yellow highlight in B related to the meaning of "domestic" tools, Marty explained that domestic referred to non-commercial tools that could be found in most households. The committee discussed the different types of household power and hand tools that exist and how they differ from commercial or industrial -grade tools in terms of noise production. Going back to §184-8A, Susan turned to the City of Ithaca's noise law section on construction and determined that it seemed much more concise and clear than both the existing town noise law section and her proposed redlined changes. After a bit more discussion, the committee agreed that sections §184-8A and B should be replaced with the City of Ithaca's §240-9C (1) & (2), with a the change of removing the word "unreasonable" in the last section, 184-813 (b) where domestic construction is discussed. §184-8A will now read "During the nighttime hours as defined in Article 1, §184-4 herein, it shall be unlawful for any person within a Residential Zone, or within 500 feet of a Residential Zone, to operate construction equipment (including but not limited to any pile driver, steam shovel, pneumatic hammer, derrick or steam or electric hoist) or perform any outside construction or repair work so as to create noise." 2 §184-813 will now read "This section shall not be deemed to prohibit: a. work of an emergency nature b. work of a domestic nature on buildings, structures or projects being undertaken by a person(s) residing in such premises, provided that, if any domestic power tool, including but not limited to mechanically powered saws, sanders, grinders and lawn and garden tools used outdoors, is operated during the nighttime hours, no person shall operate such machinery so as to cause unreasonable noise within a residential building or across a residential real property boundary, or outside of a building at a distance of 25 feet or more from the source of the sound. The committee left off on page 184:13 of the redlined draft and will begin the discussion on garbage collection at the next meeting. Meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.