Trail Gazette Editorial: Estes needs a sound noise ordinance

Nov 25, 2023

As a community, Estes Park cares about water and air pollution, and night sky pollution. The Town also needs to care about noise pollution.

Noise pollution can be defined as a level, intensity, or duration of unwanted sound which can cause adverse effects on both physical and mental health.

Noise pollution is also disruptive to wildlife. Anthropogenic or human-caused noise can cause negative biological responses in animals including habitat alterations and their ability to interpret and respond to their environment.

The Estes Park Town Board voted in 2018 to change the municipal code to remove objective decibel levels. The ordinance was replaced with the subjective wording that noise should not be “unreasonable.”

This is unfortunate.

An effective noise ordinance is clear, targeted, and enforceable, and should be understandable to the average person.

A noise ordinance must not be so vague, indefinite, or uncertain that it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Subjective noise ordinances have been found to violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments because they do not provide the necessary evidence generated by sound level meters to withstand a challenge in a court of law.

Most communities have objective noise ordinances for residential, commercial, and industrial zones that set a decibel—db—limit for noise at the receiving property on two spectrums, A and C.

The A spectrum weighs the relative loudness of noise; the C spectrum weighs low-frequency sound such as bass which can make windows vibrate. People will say they feel the sound of bass noise—db(C)—whereas they hear the sound of loud noise—db(A).

The Colorado Revised Statutes Title 25 Noise Ordinance and the Larimer County Code Chapter 30 Article 5 have clearly established maximum permissible noise levels and penalties for violations.

According to the Colorado Revised Statutes, noise should not be “objectionable due to intermittence, beat frequency, or shrillness. Sound levels of noise radiating from a property line at a distance of 25 feet or more therefrom in excess of the db(A) established for the following time periods and zones shall constitute prima facie evidence that such noise is a public nuisance.”

The best-practice standard adopted by most communities is 55 db(A) at the receiving property for residential zones during the daylight hours of 7 a.m. to 7-10 p.m. and 50 db(C) at the receiving property for the overnight hours of 7-10 p.m. to 7 a.m. as measured by a noise level meter.

The Colorado noise statute makes allowance for limited exceptions, such as a 15-minute period of noise that exceeds by 10 db(A) between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. in any one-hour period.

Historically, most noise complaints in Estes Park have been about loud music, but there are other noise concerns in our community, from loud mufflers on cars and motorcycles to construction noise.

Construction noise from the Loop project has been particularly problematic for people who live near the construction site.

The percussion of jackhammers and the roar of heavy road building equipment can be heard not only during daylight hours, but during the overnight hours by residents trying to sleep.

Without an objective noise ordinance that limits the amount of noise that can be made, or the hours that noise above a best-practice standard can be made, residents have no redress. When the town undertook the Loop project, it not only promised the community but it certified that the environmental impact would be de minimis. Residents who live near the Loop construction would tell you that late night noise from the project is not de minimis.

More than 100 people in Estes are members of a Facebook page—Estes Park Concerned Citizens Against Noise Pollution—and many residents have signed a petition that is being circulated asking the Town to revisit its noise ordinance policy and reestablish an objective decibel threshold during specified periods of time.

The Town does not have to reinvent the wheel to establish a sound noise policy. It can model its ordinance off of the best-practices of other communities, and both the residents and the wildlife will benefit.

Sign up for email newsletters