OLMSTED TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The quiet of Olmsted Township is what drew many to this southwest Cuyahoga County suburb, and the Township's Board of Trustees wants to make sure residents get it. So they passed a resolution that spells out the types of noises that will be prohibited in the township between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. Monday through Friday, and before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Monday evening, the Township released a statement saying "the 7:00PM time was an unintentional oversight; we made a mistake, it is regrettable that we missed it, and we will work with our residents and safety forces to have the best language possible before the resolution takes effect."
"The new resolution generally prohibits noise that 'unreasonably harasses, annoys, or disturbs the comfort, peace or health of a person of ordinary sensibilities' at the discretion of a law enforcement officer. The resolution does NOT establish daily quiet hours. However, it specifically prohibits certain types of noise after 7:00PM if a complaint is made, and if it does not meet an exception."
"The Board of Trustees appreciates the tremendous amount of feedback it has received on the new resolution, particularly the 7 p.m. time for certain types of noise. It was never the Board’s intent to impose burdensome requirements; it was only to give law enforcement a usable tool to protect residents from unreasonable noise on a complaint-driven basis, not to make it harder to mow your lawn. Ideally, most residents would never be impacted by updating the noise resolution."
The ordinance passed March 5 lists eight categories offering examples of noise they are looking to protect against:
- Amplified Music: Radios, televisions, speakers, musical instruments, or amplification devices operated at a volume exceeding reasonable residential use.
- Yelling, Shouting, or Vocal Disturbances: Excessive yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling, or singing.
- Animals: Repetitive, continuous, or habitual barking, howling, or yelping by dogs or other
- Machinery and Power Equipment: Use of lawn mowers, leaf blowers, chainsaws, generators, or similar equipment.
- Horn Misuse: Unnecessary or prolonged sounding of horns or signaling devices, animals. Machinery and Power Equipment: Use of lawn mowers, leaf blowers, chainsaws, except as a warning of danger.
- Firearms: Discharge of firearms outside of permitted hunting or target shooting hours, in a repetitive or unreasonable manner.
- Revving Engines and Burnouts: Intentional revving of engines, rapid acceleration, burnouts, or similar conduct creating excessive noise.
- Modified or Defective Vehicle Mufflers: Operation of any motor vehicle with a modified, altered, bypassed, or defective exhaust or muffler system that increases noise beyond normal factory operation.
Under Ohio law, this resolution would not have been effective for 30 days. The statement from the township read that "after significant feedback, we will be revisiting this at a special meeting of the Board of Trustees on Friday, March 13 at 4 p.m. to rescind the language and propose clarified language that will also be heard at the regularly scheduled Board meeting on Thursday, March 19 at 7 p.m.
"I think it's a little crazy, I definitely think it's a little too far," said Casey Hale, whom we caught up with on Monday at an Olmsted Township Park. "I mean, people have to understand that there's kids and dogs that want to have fun."
Others we spoke with, like Tiffany, told us she supports the effort.
"I like that it's quiet, so that way people who work night shift, they can actually get some time to sleep too, and then the kids can wind down, not too loud," she said.
Vanessa though questioning the early cutoff.
"I think 7 o'clock in the summer is pretty early, and I mean the kids are going to be outside playing, so I don't think, I don't agree with it, maybe a little bit later, like 9 p.m. to 7 a.m."
A few blocks away, we ran into Rich Bacik taking advantage of the warm weather on Monday to tend to his lawn, something that he says he and others in his neighborhood would be limited in doing under the changes.
"I know guys that are working that are working until 5, 6 o'clock at night, and it's just not, 7 o'clock, that's almost when a lot of people start doing it," he said. "We have to come home, eat supper and then try to do our lawn work. It is loud, but everybody is just neighborly, and we do our thing."
