The City of Fairfax could tighten its restrictions on noise but is likely holding off on regulating gas-powered leaf blowers.
Currently in Fairfax City, amplified sounds like music and other noise through speakers are prohibited form being plainly audible inside another person’s dwelling unit between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Street noises, like yelling, shouting, and hooting are likewise prohibited on public streets during the same hours.
But the city is considering starting those quiet hours earlier. Staff recommended to the Fairfax City Council at its July 8 meeting:
- Change amplified sounds/music provisions prohibition to commence at 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. weekdays and 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. weekends/holidays and running to 8 a.m. next day. Alternative: remove time restrictions altogether and prohibit any such sound that is plainly audible in any other person’s residence with the doors and windows closed.
- Change provisions on yelling/shouting on public streets to commence at 10pm daily.
- Establish different standards for animal noise between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. versus between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Staff also suggest banning loading/unloading of commercial vehicles and associated activities plainly audible to residences after 9 p.m.
Another change would prohibit using mechanical equipment “not operating in accordance with specs and in such a manner to create a noise disturbance across a property boundary.”
City Attorney Brian Lubkeman said, in terms of animal noise, it’s dogs that tend to generate the most complaints (another win for rabbit owners).
In general, Lubkeman said complaint types and volume have remained relatively constant over the years, but there’s a noticeable uptick in complaints “when our wonderful university neighbor is in session, because you have a number of [George Mason] students who reside” in the city.
Though complaints about pickleball noise have been on the rise, Lubkeman quipped that no pickleball-specific regulations are being planned in part to avoid crowding the City Council chambers with angry players.
“Pickleball has become a hot topic in terms of noise,” Lubkeman said. “As I’ve been told many times, and I’ve seen it, the noise of pickleball can be vey grating to some people.”
The noise changes are scheduled to come back to the city council this fall for consideration. It would be the first major noise ordinance change since 2010, but Lubkeman said the plan is for staff to bring changes back more frequently from here on out.
While some on the city council expressed an interest in following Alexandria in banning gas-powered leaf blowers, Lubkeman noted that Alexandria spent a significant period studying the change and got significant input from stakeholders and industry experts.
“The current plan on leaf blowers is a pilot for city equipment, monitor the Alexandria thing and see how that shakes out, and have additional discussion once we have more information,” Lubkeman said. “I would suspect we’re going to have a broader discussion on gas-powered leaf blowers.”
So far, Lubkeman said some of the comments the city has received have been concerns from the commercial side that the batteries are heavy, they don’t last very long and they’re more expensive.
Mayor Catherine Read expressed hope that the ordinance changes won’t treated as a substitute for good neighborly behavior. She said most noise complaints can be resolved by neighbors warning each other when they’re planning something that could involve louder-than-typical noises.
“This is not a pervasive issue for the whole city, but it’s a terrible issue for a small group of people who can’t seem to figure out how to solve this problem in their own homes,” Read said. “Something needs to be done. It’s impacting people’s quality of life… It doesn’t take much to simply be neighborly.”
Photo via Cbaile19/Wikimedia Commons
