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Item No: 7F Meeting Date: May 29, 2007 Type of Business: CB Administrator Review: ____ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance 789, an Ordinance Amending Section 607.08 (Noise Control Regulations) of the Municipal Code Relating to Construction Noise Introduction: As part of our ongoing effort to ensure the City’s Municipal Code is up to date and consistent with City goals, policies and procedures, staff reviewed the City’s noise control regulations (Section 607.08) and, in consultation with the City Attorney, is suggesting amendments to clarify and improve the effectiveness of the subdivision requirements and eliminate inconsistent language. Discussion: The City’s noise control regulations prohibit loud, unnecessary or unusual noises which either annoys, disturbs or affects the comfort, repose, health or peace of others, regardless of time. Granted, enforcement of this provision can be difficult because what one person considers a loud an unnecessary noise, another may not. The Code further indicates that loud or disturbing noises shall be prohibited from 10:00 pm through 7:00 am. The Code then addresses the specific issue of construction noise, requiring that no construction noise be generated between the hours of 10:00 pm and 6:00 am and at any time on a Sunday. (Refer to Exhibit 1 for the full text of the noise regulations.) Many residents have complained about the early construction start time (6:00 am) remarking that 6:00 am is too early for such disruptions. The regulations are qualified however to allow an individual or family working on their own home to be exempt from the noise control regulations. Such an exemption seems arbitrary, because—in theory—the sound of a skill saw or nail gun sounds the same in the hands of a contractor as it does in the hands of a homeowner. The intent of this exemption, we suspect, is that the Council in place at the time the regulation was codified did not want to place undue restrictions on homeowners working on their own homes, thus making a distinction between resident builders and non-resident builders. The City Council considered this amendment on May 14, 2007, and decided it made more sense make the construction times consistent throughout the week, including Sundays, eliminating any distinction between non-resident and resident workers. The first reading was approved at the May 14th meeting.