Wilmington officials are working on a new noise ordinance, and they’re looking for public input. While the city has had a noise ordinance since 1989, a confusing permit process, no appeal process, unclear language, and concerns of subjectivity have led to the new proposal.
At a monday night public meeting, city officials demonstrated how loud music can be played in residential areas during nighttime hours.
For City Attorney John Joye, the meeting was all about clarity: clarifying the proposed changes, and, the goal of these changes.
“If someone were to take the time, like I've done, to read through the existing noise ordinance, you would find some language that's inconsistent with itself. You would find a permit process that doesn't work all that well and it's not very clear… We're trying to make something that is pretty complex, much simpler, much more straightforward so that… all the folks know what the rules are and can comply.”
Business owners say that there are still no clear outlines on how police will objectively decide to issue a citation. There’s another public meeting Thursday at 6, at the Northeast Regional Library.
