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HOT! - Frederick County Noise Ordinance!!!

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 9:32 am
by Rut Row
For those of us living in or near Frederick County, we need your help!!

The County is considering changes to the noise ordinance. See this file Noise Ordinance

The Public hearing is Tuesday, September 6, 7:00 pm. It is in the first Floor hearing room. (just inside the main entrance & security sign in).

Address:
Winchester Hall
12 East Church Street
Frederick, Maryland 21701

AMA is marking up their bill so match the AMA standard and what other states have done. The message we want to send is they should use the AMA standard.

Re: HOT! - Frederick County Noise Ordinance!!!

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 2:57 pm
by Rut Row
Update - meeting has been postponed. More info soon.

Re: HOT! - Frederick County Noise Ordinance!!!

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 6:49 pm
by Laoch
Well...you guys do live in the People's Republik of Maryistan.

You get what you vote for........ :amazon:

Although, Jim's place is great riding. :cheers:
How bout a West Maryland to go with West Virginny?

Re: HOT! - Frederick County Noise Ordinance!!!

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:20 pm
by BigBird
The meeting is this Tuesday 9/20 at Winchester Hall at 7PM

Has anyone done the detailed analysis of what the law is now Vs. what is will be with the proposed change?

Re: HOT! - Frederick County Noise Ordinance!!!

Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 12:58 am
by BigBird
Can Ken or anyone figure out how to send me a MS Word or a Text file of the proposed law? (Or maybe post it on the board) So I can work with it?

I can open the link in the original post but can't figure out how to get it into a format that I can copy a piece of it or edit/highlight it, etc.

Re: HOT! - Frederick County Noise Ordinance!!!

Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 7:19 am
by Rut Row
AMA has worked closely with Commissioner Billy Shreve and has also met with Sheriff Jenkins. The County Executive and Commissioners need to here your voice. Sheriff Jenkins is looking for reasonable ways to control noise and agrees it should not be OHV specific.

For everyone in Frederick County, there is a public Hearing tomorrow (9/20) on revising their county noise ordinance. I encourage all county residents to attend and calmly, respectfully say the proposed wording is flawed, that the ordinance is intended to outlaw OHV’s, not control noise, that further study is needed on practical ways for Sheriff & deputies to control rogue OHV’ers.

The Public hearing is Tuesday, September 20, 7:00 pm in Winchester Hall, 12 East Church Street, Frederick, Maryland 21701. It is in the first Floor hearing room. (just inside the main entrance & security sign in).

Re: HOT! - Frederick County Noise Ordinance!!!

Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:11 am
by anotherguy
Although this one doesn't affect me (yet) thanks Ken for the work you perform on our behalf. It's appreciated.

Re: HOT! - Frederick County Noise Ordinance!!!

Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 11:03 pm
by BigBird
Quite a few folks at the meeting and some good comments made supporting our position. Ken will probably have a more informative post when he gets time. It seems there are lots of issues with the proposed version and a workshop will be set up to see if they can be addressed.

My notes from the meeting are:

9/20/2016 Frederick County - Noise Ordinance Hearing Notes

1. -All noise sources - except those obviously related to overall public good (police sirens, public events, etc., etc.) should be treated equally = without prejudice against a certain source, group of people, etc.

Singling out ONLY dirt bikes and ATVs, etc. by requiring PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION from all surrounding land owners within 300' is obviously unfair and should be removed.

OR Singling out ONLY dirt bikes and ATVs, etc. by requiring them to "demonstrate (how?) that the operation of the vehicle at all of its operating speeds .... will not cause the noise levels set forth .... to be exceeded at the receiving property line" is also obviously unfair and should be removed.

2. - Enforceability is key!

The ONLY obvious help here so far is going from criminal to civil penalties which are easier to get convictions on.
(This assumes that the clauses discriminating against dirt bikes and ATVs, etc. are eliminated as per item 1. above)

This however doesn't eliminate the need for the Sheriff to catch folks in the act and get an admissible db reading.

3. - Duration of noise is a key factor!

Thus giving Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps, etc. a much higher exemption limit makes no sense.

However things that are temporary -like demolition, construction, etc. - should probably have a higher limit (and/or a time/duration limit).

Re: HOT! - Frederick County Noise Ordinance!!!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 7:37 am
by Bucho
Thank you to those who went. I had to work last night.

Re: HOT! - Frederick County Noise Ordinance!!!

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:00 am
by Rut Row
The county attorney misled the commissioners slightly. She said the proposed law is identical to state law. It is not. The state law does mention ORVs (see .02.B.5) but they add a lot of restrictions to OHVs.

I thought we had a good turn-out. I thought the commissioners listened. I'll keep you posted on what I head back-channel.