PENDER COUNTY — Changes are coming to Pender County’s noise regulations next year as county commissioners unanimously approved amendments to it at Monday’s meeting.
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However, for the Pender County Sheriff’s Office, it’s business as usual.
“It’s not going to be any different from what we have been doing when we receive a noise complaint,” Sgt. Chester Ward from Pender’s County Sheriff’s Office said in a phone call with Port City Daily Wednesday.
When a call comes in, an officer goes to the scene of the complaint and asks the person at the location to decrease the volume. According to Ward, situations don’t normally require enforcement beyond that; however, moving forward it could come with fines.
Pender County staff took the initiative to change the ordinance, declaring it vague and subjective, according to Daniel Adams, director of planning and community development.
“What does it mean to be ‘unreasonably loud’ or ‘disturbing’?” Adams questioned of the current ordinance. “And what does it mean to ‘interfere with the life, health or comfort of a reasonable person’?”
Adams also told commissioners that under the ordinance deputies have a hard time justifying what a noise violation is.
The amendments were approved by the board of commissioners on Dec. 2, after failing to pass previously. The one holdout was from former commissioner Jackie Newton, who disagreed with the rewrite because she thought the ordinance wasn’t enforceable or objective.
However, it passed unanimously when new board members Ken Smith and Brent Springer — both of whom previously served on the school board — were sworn in Monday. Fred McCoy lost his seat in the primary, in addition to Newton.
Newton argued last month that because there is no set decibel noise limit in the ordinance rewrite, there would be no objective way for deputies to validate violations. She went on to say that any loud noise — even ladies rattling pots and pans during a church service — could technically be in violation.
“How objective is that?” she asked. “It’s not.”
When a motion was made to approve the amendments at the Nov. 4 meeting, it did not carry.
“If we expand enforcement to something that’s not enforceable, we really haven’t done anything,” Newton said then.
The current noise ordinance is a short, five-section set of regulations. It prohibits “unreasonably loud, disturbing” noises between the hours of 11 p.m. and half an hour before sunrise, though it doesn’t list what is considered a disturbance. The ordinance further specifies that amplified music cannot be played during any time of day, as it could “interfere with the life, health or comfort of a reasonable person.”
The amended rewrite adds explicit definitions of words, such as muffler, affected person, affected property, and noise, for instance. An affected property is defined as a property where noise is plainly audible when all windows and doors are closed.
The new ordinance also includes a “specific prohibitions” section that identifies direct instances as potential violations to be regulated between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., including:
- Horns, whistles, etc. from any motor vehicle on any public right-of-way or public property outside of a warning sound
- Vehicles and motorcycles with excessive mechanical or exhaust noise
- Radios, television sets, musical instruments and other similar devices playing loud enough to be heard through two dwelling units within a building
- Loudspeakers, public address systems and sound trucks playing loud enough to be heard through two dwelling units within a building
- Yelling, shouting, or other vocal sounds outside of a normal, conversational level, loud enough to be heard across two dwelling units within a building
- Large party nuisance from a gathering of ten or more people that spills to outdoor spaces and can be heard across two dwelling units within a building
Though there isn’t a decibel reader for deputies to use, the amendment indicates a complainant doesn’t need to clearly hear lyrics of a song, for instance, to be justified if music is too loud.
It also prohibits noise from ATVs and other offroad vehicles from sunset to sunrise, and any construction noise after 7 p.m or sunset — whichever is later — until 7 a.m.
The recent change goes one step further and explains any noise — not just ones listed, such as horns or music — that interferes with the operations of schools, places of worship, public buildings and hospitals will be in violation.
It also lists the following as exemptions:
- Non-amplified crowd noises from certain planned activities like student, governmental or community groups
- Noises from organized school athletic events
- Agricultural and farming operations using equipment with the standard mufflers and noise reducing equipment
- Noises from dogs, livestock or poultry
- Noises of safety signals, warning devices, emergency pressure relief valves and bells and chimes of churches
- Noises from any authorized emergency or law enforcement vehicle or aircraft operating on official business
- Noises associated with any community celebration of national, state or county events or public festivals
- All noises from the operation of an industrial or manufacturing facility or traffic
- All noises from emergency work during a natural disaster, a declared State of Emergency, or other emergent incidents
Additionally, the ordinance adds penalties for violations. First-time offenders will receive a $100 fine, second-time offenders, $300, and third-time offenders $500. A Class 3 misdemeanor is also on the table, which could bring in a $500 fine.
“It’s going to be a case-by-case scenario,” Ward said.
The penalty fee will be addressed in a two-step process: at the first call of a noise complaint, an officer will write up a warning. An officer could issue a fine for the second complaint.
Ward said that they will only be writing citations after 11 p.m.
“It’s going to be pretty much at night versus daytime,” he said.
Commissioner Jerry Groves said in the meeting the county faced “two different monsters.”
“We’ve got a nighttime problem and then we’ve got a daytime problem,” he said. “This will help the nighttime problem.”
In 2023, there were a total of 536 noise complaints called in across Pender County. This year, there have been a total of 424 calls.
Pender County resident Wade Danner raised a concern during public comment that the amendment doesn’t prohibit amplified music during all hours of the day like the current one does and claimed that loud noise is not exclusive to late nights.
“If I wanted to, does that mean I could play excessively loud music all day every day and just kind of terrorize my neighbors?” Danner asked.
He pushed for there to be guidelines for daytime violations as well.
Another county resident, Gary Helm, spoke out against the changes, claiming that the timeframe is not enough to protect neighborhoods from unwanted sounds. Specifically, he complained too much noise was coming from a nearby property.
“We have a bona fide motocross track across the road from homes and by horse farms,” Helm said. “This is definitely loud, unreasonable; it’s disrupting dozens of families.”
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Commissioners didn’t comment on either public concern. Adams wrote to Port City Daily in an email the county is looking into Helm’s complaint.
Adams explained there will not be any deputies designated to just handle noise complaints, but rather whomever is on duty and in proximity will be called to the scene. Under the current ordinance, noise complaints are handled by any on-duty officer, including city police. Following the changes effective Jan. 2, 2025, calls will be responded to by county deputies only.
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