The latest change to the noise ordinance restricts sound coming from watercraft to being inaudible at 100 feet. This requirement is nearly impossible to satisfy. It is also written for the benefit of a specific set of homeowners. This ordinance is inequitable, serves a specific special interest, and transfers an undue burden of decision making to the police force.
Archive of posts filed under the The Noise Ordinance category.
The Nutty Brown Cafe: Noise Measurements and Comparison to Acoustical Criteria
During a performance at the Nutty Brown Cafe, sound levels were measured at a nearby residence. Measurements were compared to several appropriate criteria. According to these comparisons, sound levels from the Nutty Brown exceeded standards for annoyance and sleep disturbance by wide margins.
Certifying Outdoor Live Music Venues
Requiring outdoor music venues to submit an acoustical analysis as part of the permitting process will solve community noise issues before they occur. It will also allow each venue to operate according to its specific situation. A permitted venue can be held to special sound level limits designed around live music, rather than generic A-weighted levels taken from the ordinance.
Shady Grove Teaches Us The Importance of Distance When Measuring Sound
By observing the area around Shady Grove, we learn the importance of distance from a sound source and why the noise ordinance needs to be receiver based.
For Your Convenience: The Austin Noise Ordinance
I’ve added a set of pages that have what I believe to be the entirety of sections dealing with noise limits from the City of Austin Code of Ordinances. You can access them through the link at the top right of the page.
The Title pages contain entire chapters and sections, copied straight from the [...]
Getting Up to Speed – Relevant Reading
Here is a collection of interesting articles and blog entries that can help catch you up on Austin noise issues if you’re just tuning in.
From Austin Contrarian
July 28, 2009 – Stacking the deck
July 12, 2009 – Shady Grove needs a parking variance
June 18, 2009 – Update and clarification on the music ordinance
June 18, 2009 – [...]
Review of the Live Music Task Force Overview and Recommendations from an Acoustician’s Point of View
I should have started this blog one year earlier, as the LMTF presented their findings and recommendations back in November. Nevertheless, it can’t do any harm to share my thoughts on the Live Music Task Force Report.
From an acoustics standpoint, the most important section in the report is Sound Enforcement & Control Subcommittee Recommendations. [...]
Things that are wrong with the Austin Noise Ordinance
Despite undergoing frequent revision due to changing political pressures, the Austin Noise Ordinance is still poorly written. The very fundamental aspects of the ordinance are flawed, written by people attempting to adopt portions of ordinances from other jurisdictions without totally understanding the differences in terms which sound similar but are actually quite different. [...]