Lancaster, PA - Noise law model focuses on behavior

OFF THE WIRE
SCOT ANDREW PITZER
 gettysburgtimes.com
The mayor of the central-Pennsylvania city that Gettysburg is modeling its proposed noise ordinance after considers his law enforceable and constitutional.
According to Lancaster City Mayor Rick Gray, the noise ordinance was revised there several years ago to combat motorcycle clatter, but it focuses on motorist behavior, instead of mechanics. The nine-member Gettysburg Borough Council may advertise its own code for adoption as early as tonight.
“We still receive complaints, and there are still loud motorcycles, and it hasn’t solved all of our problems — only maturity will do that,” says Mayor Gray. “We focused on what the real problem is, rider behavior.”
Gray, himself, is an avid motorcycle enthusiast, owns 10 bikes, and used to ride between 15,000 and 30,000 miles annually, before taking office in 2006. He previously served as chairman of the American Motorcycle Association, which featured 300,000 members at the time.
“For some reason, people have found it necessary to use motorcycles as noise-makers,” said Gray.  “A regular motorcycle, like mine, doesn’t make any more noise than your car does,” he added. “We’ve let it known to groups that have kind of behavior, that if it’s seen in the city, they will get fined,” added Gray, who thinks his ordinance has been successful in regulating inappropriate noise, such as engine-revving.
Lancaster City has 142 police officers and 60,000 residents, compared to 13-full time officers in Gettysburg, and about 10,000 residents.
“I think we’ve been successful. We haven’t been challenged,” said Gray. “Any time police write a citation for unreasonable noise, that’s a judgment call, and that’s what we have courts for. I trust police not to be harassing people with this.”
Gettysburg officials insist that their ordinance does not specifically aim at motorcycle noise, although they have received complaints over the years about the problem. The borough does not have an ordinance regulating excessive noise in the community, and efforts to create an ordinance date back three years. Officials patterned the ordinance after Environmental Protection Agency guidelines, as well as Lancaster’s law.
 Police discretion is likely to play a factor in the borough’s new ordinance. When police discretion comes into play, Gray pointed out that an officer “almost has to hear the vehicle, and has to see the manner in which it is operated.”
Previously, Lancaster City’s ordinance focused on mechanics, such as altered pipes.
When Gray took office in 2006, he and other officials determined that the city’s old ordinance — which aimed at motorcycle and vehicle equipment, and relied on decibels — wasn’t enforceable, and wouldn’t hold up in court. That’s because the city lacked decibel-reading equipment, and didn’t have officers trained to use the equipment. Similarly, the Borough of Gettysburg does not own decibel-reading equipment. Training and equipment come with an expense, noted Gray.
”I used to be a criminal defense attorney, and I told our police chief at the time, show me an ordinance that relies on a decibel meter,” said Mayor Gray. “Our police officers are not mechanics, so you can’t tell whether a system has been altered.”
Along with City Council, Mayor Gray “looked around at other communities,” such as Portland, Maine, and Daytona Beach, which “has the largest motorcycle rally in the world each year.” “Those ordinances focus on rider behavior, rather than equipment, and that’s why they’ve had success,” said Mayor Gray.
Gettysburg’s proposed ordinance aims at inappropriate noise from 11 p.m.-6 a.m, protecting “what the public expects to be their private time, overnight,” according to council. There are 15 different violations listed in the draft ordinance, such as construction, loud parties, barking dogs and squealing tires. Once the ordinance is advertised, it will be available to the public. Gettysburg Borough Council John Butterfield said the borough is “pretty sure” the new law “meets constitutional muster, and it’s able to be enforced.”
Lancaster’s noise ordinance features a fine for first-time offenders of $150, and a weekend in jail for up to four or five offenses, according to Gray, although, “no one has gone to jail.” Penalties for first-time violators in Gettysburg are $150, and up to $1,000 for four-time violators.
Butterfield noted that while the borough’s proposed noise law is modeled after Lancaster’s ordinance, there are several differences between the two codes. For example, Lancaster has noise prohibitions between 9 p.m.-8 a.m., or 10 p.m.-8 a.m., and “ours is reasonably more liberal,” per Butterfield.
The City of Lancaster has a Noise Control Board that grants variances for certain organizations which can cause noise, according to Butterfield, but the borough has no such board. Butterfield also pointed out that the borough specifically exempts bells, chimes and snow-blowers in the proposed ordinance.