By Nini Edwards
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications
A Midway City Council committee is discussing what a noise ordinance in the city would look like.
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications
A Midway City Council committee is discussing what a noise ordinance in the city would look like.
The Cemetery, Ordinance and Policy Committee talked Monday
about possibly including restrictions on such things as machinery noise, loud
music or barking dogs.
The three-member committee reviewed Versailles and
Lexington’s ordinances as examples that could guide Midway’s decisions.
“I don’t think there are many things in the Lexington
ordinance that will be amicable to Midway,” said Council Member Grayson
Vandegrift. “The Versailles ordinance seems a little closer to us.”
For example, the Lexington ordinance prohibits noises that
“disturb a person with normal sensibilities,” while the general part of the Versailles ordinance says “No person shall make, continue, or cause to be made
or continued any loud, unnecessary, or unusual noise or any noise which either
annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, or
safety of others within the limits of the city.”
Vandegrift said, “I guess the reason behind this is to give
police the discretion to reasonably discern” whether someone is violating the
ordinance.
Vandegrift showed concern for certain Midway events if the
noise limit starts at 10 p.m., and mentioned the possibility of imposing noise limits from 11 p.m.
to 7 a.m. and requiring downtown events to end by 10 p.m.
“Sound can carry pretty far; you can hear a band over on
West Higgins,” he said. “That might be something to think about.”
Council Member Sharon Turner said most of the city’s noise
problems are from repeat violators, and wondered how the ordinance could
address that. “It is not for the first-time offense, it is for the consistent
day-in and day-out issues that we don’t have an ordinance to cover.”
Turner, the chair of the committee, is planning to bring the
ordinance up again at the next committee meeting, at 9 a.m. on May 13. Turner
said she is sending the Lexington and the Versailles ordinances as examples to
the city attorney to prepare a draft ordinance for the committee to consider.
Turner said after the meeting that she would like the
committee to think about the situation and come up with ideas to present after
having a chance to think about the matter.
“Last meeting I had asked them to review the ordinances and
come back with ideas and I didn’t hear anything, so sometimes I think it is
easier when you see something that is yours,” she said.
The committee also discussed the possibility of a chapel at
the Midway Cemetery where people could meet for services.
The chapel would provide a safer environment and would be
more comfortable in certain weather conditions when holding a service, funeral
director David Clark told the committee. He said that it would be safer and
more convenient than graveside services.
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