October 14, 2005

By MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal senior staff writer

Sometimes you just need some peace and quiet — and city and county ordinances are designed to do just that for Greenwood residents.

But each day, law enforcement officials receive complaints about noise. They say the most common violations arise from loud or amplified car stereos, parties or nightclubs in an area.

According to city code, it is unlawful for a person to operate any radio or device that creates “unreasonably loud, excessive or disturbing noises” that is used “in such manner or with such volume as to annoy or disturb the quiet comfort and/or repose of any person and/or neighborhood in the vicinity.”

Greenwood Police Assistant Chief Mike Butler said the city receives “quite a few” noise ordinance violations on a regular basis.
Butler said nightclubs sometimes can cause a nuisance for residents in nearby communities.
“People will go in and out, or people will hold the (club’s) door open and neighbors will complain,” he said, adding that officers will respond to address the issue.

But vehicles have become a bigger noise problem inside the city limits, Butler said.

“Many times, we have violations of music being heard from outside of the vehicle. People with loud bass thumping in their cars will rattle the doors on people’s houses,” he said. “We have a great number of complaints around areas in town where kids gather and socialize.”

The problem led city council to pass a city noise ordinance aimed specifically at sound created by vehicles.
The ordinance prohibits music, sound or noise from a vehicle that can be “heard outside (of the vehicle)…and on any street, park, public place or private premises of another.”

Butler said the summer months, when people drive with their convertible tops open or windows rolled down, are when city officials receive the most complaints.

Though county noise ordinance violations are not an “overwhelming problem,” Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mike Frederick said deputies do respond to similar violations as city officials.

Frederick said nightclubs and parties are the biggest noise culprits in the county, but responding deputies are normally able to cease the problem by speaking with property owners.

“They are usually willing to comply,” Frederick said.

County codes prohibit noise that “annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of others.”
According to the code, excessive or unnecessary noise is that “which is plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet from its source.”

Horns, radios, televisions, instruments and even pets are listed in the code’s 15 violations, as well as excessive noises that interfere with schools, churches, libraries or courts while in session.

Violators can face a fine of up to $200 or imprisonment of up to 30 days, but Frederick said arrests for noise ordinance violations are rare.