Offshore Addiction

Here is an article from the St Pete Times Newspaper- according to the news this morning, after having 2 complaints from 2 different houses, you will be cited - this also includes boat noises... So what happens when you come home late with the boat and need to flush it....


Enforcing noise rule just got easier
The ordinance lets deputies cite anyone who is ''unreasonably loud and raucous.'' There's no need for a decibel meter.
By LISA GREENE, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 8, 2003


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Hush. If you don't keep it quiet, it could cost you.

That's because Pinellas County commissioners passed a new noise ordinance Tuesday. The revised rules make it easier for sheriff's deputies, or city police, to cite people for making too much noise.

"It's going to give law enforcement the tools they need," senior assistant county attorney Jewel White Cole told commissioners. "They get put in an awkward position. They get called out at 2 in the morning, 3 in the morning (and) their hands are tied right now."

That's because under the county's old noise rules, people had to break a certain decibel level to be cited for making too much noise.

County code enforcement agents carry decibel meters. But they work during the day, while most complaints come at night. The deputies who answered such calls didn't have meters and were powerless to issue citations.

The new ordinance solves that problem by allowing deputies to issue citations to anyone who is "unreasonably loud and raucous." It applies countywide, but most cities in Pinellas already have their own noise rules and can use those instead.

The county has been working on a new standard since last July. Commissioner John Morroni and commission Chairman Karen Seel asked county lawyers to work on new rules after hearing complaints from residents.

But other commissioners, particularly Calvin Harris and Susan Latvala, worried that the new rules would be too strict. They didn't want teens playing basketball or residents mowing their lawns in the evening to be slapped with $156 fines.

So county lawyers went back to the drawing board. The new rules specify types of noise presumed to be too loud, including loud radios and stereos and loading and unloading boxes and other objects.

The ordinance places more restrictions on noise between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. -- a standard that lawyers proposed in July as 6 p.m., then moved to 9 p.m. Commissioners on Tuesday pushed it back to 11 p.m.

The new rule also includes fireworks, except for government displays and a three-day window at July Fourth and New Year's Day.

Repeat offenders can be fined up to $500.

Harris said he was pleased with the compromise.

"My concern was this was going to be an antiyouth ordinance," he said. "But this will take care of it."

Also Tuesday, commissioners passed a resolution asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to change how its proposed plan limiting dock permits to protect manatees would affect Pinellas County. The EPA has proposed limiting dock permits from Pasco County to the southern tip of Florida in an effort to cut the number of manatees killed by speeding boats.

But county officials argue they already have enacted boating restrictions, public education campaigns and other restrictions that have helped protect manatees.

Of the 81 manatees reported killed in boat collisions in 2001, Pinellas said, only one was killed in Pinellas.

County officials said that Pinellas should not be "unduly penalized," and that they want to work with the EPA to develop rules that recognize counties with such programs in place.

Cord

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like it's something that will be thrown out of court. The law is vaugue and unenforceable as it sets no level of standard.

CigDaze

You got me real nervous at first glance.

Well, it's not all that bad is it. After all, I'm no big fan of being woken up late at night by a bunch ow rowdy punks on a work night.

Hopefully, this doesn't translate too much directly towards boating. Luckily, it's only between 11:00pm and 7:00am.

Cat Girl

Damn, Bad Cat and I are in trouble...
...no more pyrotechnic shows at 2:00am
...no more potato guns at midnight while grilling
...no late night stereo installations (like last year when we put in new speakers in the Expedition at 3:00am before going to the Miami boat show)
...no more breaking in motors by tying them to the dock and running all them all night long (so we can go fast the next day)
...no more blasting thru the bayou on the way home from the beach or Gators at 3:00am
...no more jetskiing thru the canals with miner hats at 4:00am
...no more leaving the outside speakers on while watching action movies or pornos

Wait a minute, Bad Cat said he'll just stay out until 7:02am !!!!

cuda

I don't think the new law will stand up to a court challenge, if someone would be willing to take it there. Too arbitrary.

Offshore Addiction

supposedly it'll take two complaints from two different people living in two different households!so if yall only have one *****ie neighbor you should be ok.......didnt yall see the news?I think they were using a 42 outerlimits w/2400 ponies as an example,now dont cha think theyll have a hard time gettin FL numbers at a 120 mph?or maybe just shoot the fireworks off from the neighbors yard now.......ha ha