After police received a flurry of noise complaints, the city council discussed whether changes should be made to current policies.

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By Daniel Schmidt

Feb. 17, 2022

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AUBURN – Between the Auburn University men’s basketball team’s recent success on the court and a resurgence in downtown nightlife, things may seem to be getting noisier around town.

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On Wednesday, the City Council met during the Committee of the Whole to discuss if changes should be proposed to current sound ordinances after numerous complaints were made three weeks ago.

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Among the roughly 60 people in attendance was Auburn Police Chief Cedric Anderson, who expressed to the City Council that he was content with current sound ordinances.

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“For the 30 years that I’ve been here, it’s been very effective, and to change it at this point wouldn’t get the same result. I think it would probably create some confusion,” Anderson said.

 

Anderson said that between 2017 and 2021, the police department responded to 5,492 noise complaints. While there are similarities among what the most common violators of noise ordinances are, there is no limit to what constitutes unreasonable sound.

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“We’ve gotten complaints on the high school football team practices. We’ve gotten complaints [about] neighbors walking too hard at apartment complexes. It could be anything," Anderson said.

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According to Anderson, the most common violators are bands playing at the various bars located in downtown Auburn and fraternity parties, where sound can carry for miles.

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“Believe me, I experienced one of those this fall,” said City Manager Megan McGowen Crouch. “I live almost four miles from the party where it was coming from, and I could hear what the music was in my living room.”

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In the past, the police department has researched noise ordinances in Athens, Ga.; Baton Rouge, La.; Oxford, Miss.; and Tuscaloosa, Ala., to decide if changes were necessary for Auburn.

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Anderson said that officers would require decibel measuring devices if specific noise caps were introduced and that measuring decibels would remove officers’ discretion in handling noise complaints.

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Anderson also mentioned other issues with placing noise caps, including individuals causing potentially unreasonable noise just below the set decibel threshold and environmental factors that could prevent accurate measuring, such as the location of buildings.

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Currently, the city of Auburn’s noise ordinance adopts state disorderly conduct measures that do not place a specific cap on what constitutes unreasonable noise. Anderson said this allows for more flexibility when dealing with such problems.

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“[The officer] gives them a warning the first time and gives them the opportunity to bring the noise into an acceptable range,” Anderson said. “The person is told at that point that if the officer has to come back out then we will take additional action, which usually requires the officer to go back out and shut the party down and make the noise stop at that point."

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If an unreasonable level of noise persists after the officer returns a second time, that officer will either issue a non-traffic citation or make an arrest for disorderly conduct if the violation is severe enough.

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Anderson mentioned that it is extremely rare for noise violations to escalate to this point and that of the nearly 4,500 complaints that officers responded to between 2017 and 2021, roughly six were not handled properly.

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After hearing from Anderson, the City Council seemed to agree that, for now, there should be no proposed changes to the city’s noise ordinance.

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In addition to the noise ordinance, the City Council discussed whether changes to current city laws governing murals and other similar artwork should be proposed to the Planning Commission as well as vacancies on the Planning Commission, Auburn City Schools Board of Education and Public Library Board.

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Applications to all three vacancies can be found on the City Council's website. The deadline to file an application for the Planning Commission vacancy is 5 p.m. on March 9. Applications for the ACSBOE vacancy will be accepted until 5 p.m. on March 21.

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While there were no changes to the city’s noise ordinance, one thing’s for certain: should Auburn men’s basketball keep their magical season going, Auburn police should expect more calls.