Newport Beach : Noise Ordinance Must Get New Council’s OK

The city’s first noise ordinance was approved by the City Council on Monday night but to become law still must win passage from the newly elected council that takes office next week.

Term limits forced Mayor Clarence J. Turner, Councilwoman Evelyn R. Hart and Councilman Phil Sansone out of office.

Elected to replace Hart and Sansone, respectively, were Planning Commission Chairwoman Norma Glover and former Newport Beach City Atty. Dennis O’Neil.

Turner’s replacement remains uncertain because mayoral candidates Ron Winship and Thomas Edwards finished just 26 votes apart, with some absentee votes still being counted.

The noise law, scheduled to come before the new council Nov. 28, classifies all city properties as residential, commercial or industrial and assigns acceptable noise limits for each.

It would bring together noise regulations that have been scattered throughout ordinances governing other matters, such as public nuisances and construction permits.

As the ordinance has evolved over the past three months, the two primary sticking points have been air conditioners and gas-powered leaf blowers.

The council outlawed the leaf blowers within 200 feet of residential areas on a 5-1 vote Monday, with Turner opposed. The provision would allow gas blowers in commercial and industrial areas.

Air conditioners legally installed before April 22, 1981--when the city first started to impose noise controls--would be required to operate below 65 decibels in residential areas through the end of the century.

New units would be required to operate at 55 decibels or less.

Regulating air conditioners has proved problematic because many areas of the city have closely quartered homes with minimal side yards, where most air conditioners are mounted.

Noise-generating activities in commercial or industrial areas must maintain the stricter standards of residential areas if the sounds carry that far.

More noise is allowed in all areas from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. than from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.