High Point just passed a tough new ordinance to make their city quieter, meanwhile downtown Greensboro advocacy groups want to go the other way.
Despite many recent letters to the editor calling for a crackdown on undue noise emanating from cars and elsewhere in Greensboro, efforts on the part of Action Greensboro and Downtown Greensboro, Inc are to make downtown Greensboro more "vibrant". The two goals may clash.
A recent City Council decision (PDF file - see page 13) that amended Greensboro's ordinance related to three-day-or-longer events at non-permanent facilities in the "Downtown Business District". The amendment simply extended the time that such events could operate from 11pm to 1am. The amendment did not, however, change anything having to with how much noise can be generated by such events. That measurement remains as ambiguous as it always has been.
After learning of the amendment's adoption, downtown neighborhoods became alarmed that the change might appreciably alter what has always been a fair balance between how much noise downtown activities generate and how much noise bordering neighborhoods could tolerate. Council members heard the neighborhood's concerns and called for a meeting of all affected parties. That meeting occured this past Tuesday at City Hall.
In attendance were downtown event organizer Betty Cone, three Action Greensboro representatives including Executive Director Susan Schwartz, DGI's Ray Gibbs, representatives from Greensboro's three historic districts and two city attorneys and a "moderator" that no meeting can seem to do without anymore.
What we all discovered early in the meeting was that the amendment didn't address what the downtown organizations intended, nor what the neighborhoods feared. The level of noise that events may generate remains as it always has been - noise must remain at "reasonable" levels at all times.
"Reasonableness" is, by law, to be determined by the ear of the beholder. If I am disturbed by some event occuring downtown I can call the police and make a complaint about it - at anytime of the day or night. The responding officer is then obligated to make contact with the object of my ire and ask them to turn it down. If the person, or organization, continues the noise unabated - and I complain again - they can be cited.
This revelation seemed to alarm those advocating for more downtown "vibrancy". Discussions ensued as to how much noise is "unreasonable" and how such determinations should be made, and perhaps measured in decibels, with regard to time of day.
Another revelation came when Fisher Park's Ann Stringfield pointed out that the adopted amendment only covered an obscure section of downtown known as the "Downtown Business District (DBD)". This legal definition falls short of encompassing the better known, and larger, "Central Business District (CBD)" zoning designation, which - as Betty Cone admitted - was the intent of the downtown organizations' efforts.
Ann pointed out that the new baseball stadium does not lie within the DBD, but it is within the CBD. As it turns out, the ordinance change - unintentionally - had nothing to do the new stadium after all. Many in attendance who didn't realize that fact looked perplexed at this bit of information.
All-in-all the meeting was productive. The city attorneys made lots of notes and assured everyone that they will draft something regarding noise levels and call us all back together.
8:19:52 AM 
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