The Lubbock City Council voted Thursday night to postpone discussions on the proposed changes to the current noise ordinance until February 23rd.
The vote came after business owners and musicians packed into City Hall to express their concerns. Community members also spent the day calling, emailing and posting on social media. The council and Mayor Pope took notice.
The amendment to the ordinance was crafted by Councilwoman Sheila Patterson-Harris. She said many constituents in District 2 came to her with complaints about noise.
“Because truly there have been complaints outside of just music,” Patterson-Harris said. “But there are things that are taking place in the city that need to be addressed.”
“And we do have a problem with the noise in our area,” one woman stated during the citizen comments portion of the meeting. “It’s to the point where sometimes you can’t look at your TV, you can’t enjoy your family.”
The current ordinance sets the noise level at no higher than 100 decibels. The councilwoman’s changes would set the levels at no higher than 70 dB after 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and no higher than 80 dB after midnight on Friday and Saturday.
“I took a decibel meter last night to my business with a three piece acoustic and with the door shut we were at 120,” one business owner reported.
Many of the people we spoke to, including Derek Hunter, co-owner of The Blue Light Live, said the ordinance sets unrealistic standards for local businesses, even those that don’t play live music.
“It needs to be looked at again,” Hunter said. “There’s different ways we can do it, where it could exclude commercial altogether.”
Hunter’s suggestions mirror that of many other speakers at the meeting, who think a blanket ordinance is not what Lubbock needs, rather an ordinance that is tailored to different zones.
Business owners consider the postponement a small victory for now, until they can have discussions with Patterson-Harris and those who have complaints. Their hope is to come up with an ordinance that will suit everyone’s needs before the meeting on February 23rd.
“I think it worked out well,” Hunter said. “The public came together and a lot of people showed up today. This is one of the biggest meetings that they’ve had. And the city council was open to discussion and that’s what is important.”
