LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
SUBSTITUTE ORDINANCE NO. BL2008-306
An Ordinance amending Section 11.12.070 of the Metropolitan Code, Excessive Noise, to add noise restrictions within the downtown area.
An Ordinance amending Section 11.12.070 of the Metropolitan Code, Excessive Noise, to add noise restrictions within the downtown area.
WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County seeks to regulate the auditory environment within the downtown area for aesthetic and safety reasons; and
WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Government desires to maintain expressive activity in the community while maintaining and enhancing the environment, and to advance the safety and welfare of the community; and
WHEREAS, the purpose of this ordinance is to improve the organic, live music product of Nashville, which has made the city synonymous with Music City worldwide, while providing for effective means of communication, consistent with constitutional guarantees; and
WHEREAS, the regulation of sounds and noise within the downtown area will have a positive impact on traffic safety, police enforcement and enjoyment of the community.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:
Section 1. Purpose and Findings.
The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County seeks to regulate the auditory environment for aesthetic and safety reasons. This regulation is a vital function of the government and is similar to the orderly regulations the government places on other forms of communication such as restricted use of red lights; the color, size and placement of signs; or the use of sirens. Metropolitan Nashville wants to maintain expressive activity in the community while maintaining and enhancing the environment and to advance the safety and welfare of the community.
The purpose of this ordinance is to protect and improve the organic, live music product of Nashville, which has made the city synonymous with Music City worldwide, while providing for effective means of communication, consistent with constitutional guarantees. Additionally, the regulation of sounds and noise will have a positive impact on traffic safety, police enforcement and enjoyment of the community.
Music City attracts more than 11 million visitors each year, who collectively spend $4 billion a year. The hospitality industry that embraces the Music City experience is a significant economic force, being the second largest industry in the county and employing almost 60,000 of our residents. Music, particularly the live performance of music, is the primary draw for these visitors. All throughout Nashville live music can be enjoyed, but one area in which the experience is expected every night of the week is the downtown entertainment district. The experience downtown is carefully calculated, with venues that promote true live music – in both voice and instrument – purposefully not charging admission and frequently opening doors and windows so that the live sounds can be easily enjoyed by passers-by. This organic environment has been enjoyed since 1960 when the first honky tonk opened its doors. Since then, the downtown district has become a haven for live music enthusiasts and the ambiance of the live performance continues to be an anticipated and expected sound in the area.
A diverse group of organizations has embraced Nashville’s live music as essential to their mission. Those groups include the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Nashville International Airport, The Downtown Partnership, Belmont University and the NHL Predators. All of these organizations are following in the footsteps of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Nashville’s first World-renowned live performing group.
This community has worked tirelessly since that time to synergize the existing places to enjoy live music and create new opportunities for visitors to experience Music City. Today, live music can be enjoyed from the time a visitor retrieves bags at the airport. But the crown jewel of the visitor experience is the downtown entertainment district, where great live performances can be enjoyed on the same stages where today’s music legends first found fame.
Through the years, many Nashville Mayors and Councils have supported venues, marketing and sales efforts to attract additional visitors who bring in a major source of tax revenue. Live music is a critical element in attracting and entertaining these visitors and it is important to preserve the live music element of our heritage. We intend for this ordinance to protect our live music culture, while also encouraging more live music performances to heighten the Music City brand and attract future visitors.
Nashville endeavors to provide adequate means of expression and promote the economic viability of the business community, while protecting the city and its citizens from a proliferation of sounds that would adversely impact upon the aesthetics of the community and threaten the health, safety and welfare of the community.
The Metro Nashville Police Department has a history of calls to bars and clubs that broadcast music/sound using outdoor speakers. The noise levels from the outdoor speakers are a safety issue for Police Officers. These noise levels create hazardous conditions, as the Police have difficulty maintaining public peace and safety.
Police Officers mounted on horses, motorcycles, bicycles and walking regularly patrol the downtown Nashville area. Due to the levels of music/sound volume from outdoor speakers, the Officers are unable to hear or talk on their radios. Officers are unable to give commands to individuals or crowds as they are unable to yell loud enough to be heard over the speaker volume. Often, the noise is so loud even an Officer’s whistle cannot be heard. Crime victims, fight victims nor the general public are able to communicate with Officers, including hearing, talking or yelling due to the noise level. These occurrences are not rare. The Police Department’s actual number of calls for 2008 to just 3 of the clubs with outdoor speakers are: Buckwild 131 calls, Faded 115 calls, Fuel 114 calls.
Section 2. That Chapter 11.12 of the Metropolitan Code shall be and the same is hereby amended by deleting Section 11.12.070 in its entirety, and substituting in lieu thereof the following new Section 11.12.070:
11.12.070 Excessive noise
A. Except for properties lying within an area zoned CC district and properties zoned CF district that are contiguous to those zoned CC district, it shall be unlawful for any person to:
1. Operate or allow the operation of any sound amplification equipment so as to create sounds that are plainly audible from the boundary line of the nearest residentially occupied property. For multifamily structures, including apartments, condominiums, or other residential arrangements where boundary lines can not readily be determined, it shall be unlawful to operate or allow the operation of any sound amplification equipment so as to create sounds that are plainly audible from any point within the interior of another residential unit in the same complex or within the boundary line of the nearest residentially occupied property. For purposes of this section, "sound amplification equipment" means a radio, tape player, compact disc player, digital audio player, television, electronic audio equipment, musical instrument, sound amplifier, or other mechanical or electronic sound-making device that produces, reproduces or amplifies sound. This subsection shall not apply to a special event, mass gathering or other permitted activity by the metropolitan government or its boards or commissions. Further, the provisions of this section shall not apply to entertainment facilities constructed to provide outdoor entertainment owned by metropolitan government or its agencies and parks under the control of the board of parks and recreation. For the purpose of this subsection, "plainly audible" means any sound which clearly can be heard by unimpaired auditory senses.
2. Operate or allow the operation of any sound amplification equipment for advertising purposes or otherwise to attract customers so as to cast sounds which are unreasonably loud and disturbing or which are plainly audible at or on the boundary of the nearest public right-of-way or park. For the purpose of this subsection, "plainly audible" means any sound which clearly can be heard by unimpaired auditory senses.
3. Operate or allow the operation for personal use of any sound amplification equipment on the public right-of-way, including streets or sidewalks, or in parks under control of the board of parks and recreation, so as to produce sounds that are plainly audible fifty feet or more from any electromechanical speaker. For the purpose of this subsection, "plainly audible" means any sound which clearly can be heard by unimpaired auditory senses.
B. The provisions of this subsection B. shall be applicable for properties lying within an area zoned CC district and properties zoned CS district that are contiguous to those zoned CC district:
1. Except as provided in subsection B.5 of this section, it shall be unlawful to operate or allow the operation of any amplification device mounted to the exterior of a building or structure, or to operate such device outside of the premises.
2. It shall be unlawful for interior speakers to be aimed or oriented toward the exterior opening of a building, when said speakers produce sounds registering more than eighty-five Decibels (A weighted), as measured at street level fifty linear feet from the outside wall of the structure within which the noise is produced.
3. All prerecorded music shall be limited to the 85 Decibel limit (A weighted), regardless of the source including, but not limited to: vinyl records, compact disks, digital video disks, digital audio players, hard drives, solid state memory, tape drives, radio sets or television sets. Such sound measurement shall be taken at street level fifty linear feet from the outside wall of the structure within which the noise is produced. Notwithstanding the foregoing, live music is expressly exempt from the 85 Decibel limitation. Live music shall mean that musicians, instruments and singers will not be prerecorded.
4. If a commercial operation functions primarily as a dining establishment with outside seating, that establishment shall be exempt from the speaker prohibition but must limit the sound output to 85 Decibels (A weighted), as measured at street level fifty linear feet from the property line of the dining establishment from which the noise is produced.
5. The following shall be exempt from the provisions of subsection (B)(1) above:
(a) special events, mass gatherings, or other permitted activities by the state of Tennessee or the Metropolitan Government or any of its boards or commissions;
(b) entertainment facilities constructed to provide outdoor entertainment owned by the state of Tennessee, the Metropolitan Government (or its agencies), or the parks under the control of the state of Tennessee or the Metropolitan Board of Parks & Recreation;
(c) churches or facilities used for religious worship.
C. Motor vehicle noise. It shall be unlawful for any person to:
1. Operate any motor vehicle that is not equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive noise.
2. Operate a motor vehicle equipped with a cut-out, by-pass, or similar muffler elimination unit, or to operate a motor vehicle with devices that amplify motor noise or motor vehicle exhaust noise.
3. Operate a motor vehicle if the exhaust noise is plainly audible at two hundred feet. For purposes of this subsection, “plainly audible” means the detection of the sound of a muffler or of an exhaust by a person using his or her unaided hearing faculties.
D. No person operating or occupying a motor vehicle on any street, highway, alley, parking lot, or driveway, either public or private property, shall operate or permit the operation of any sound amplification system, including, but not limited to, any radio, tape player, compact disc player, loud speaker, or any other electrical device used for the amplification of sound from within the motor vehicle so that the sound is plainly audible at a distance of fifty or more feet from the vehicle or, in the case of a motor vehicle on private property, beyond the property line. For the purpose of this subsection, "plainly audible" means any sound which clearly can be heard, by unimpaired auditory senses based on a direct line of sight of fifty or more feet, however, words or phrases need not be discernible and said sound shall include bass reverberation.
E. Except for properties lying within an area zoned CC district and properties zoned CF district that are contiguous to those zoned CC district, no person or persons owning, operating, or having the care, custody, or control of any facility located within fifty feet of a residence and/or of a natural conservation area shall permit to be operated any musical instrument or other entertainment device using amplification unless such music or other entertainment is provided within a totally enclosed structure. Such music or other entertainment may be provided outside of a structure only between the hours of seven a.m. and eleven p.m., except when exempted under provisions of the code as a special event, mass gathering or other permitted activity by metropolitan government or its boards or commissions. The provisions of this section shall not apply to entertainment facilities constructed to provide outdoor entertainment owned by metropolitan government or its agencies and parks under the control of the board of parks and recreation.
F. Outdoor entertainment events within the downtown area.
1. No person shall operate an outdoor music and/or entertainment event that produces amplified sound which registers more than eighty-five Db(A), as measured from any point within the boundary line of the nearest residentially occupied property at the street level.
2. The provisions of this subsection shall only apply to (a) properties lying with an area zoned CC district and properties zoned CF district that are contiguous to those zoned CC district; (b) properties lying within an area bounded by properties fronting Music Square West and 17th Avenue South from Division Street to Edgehill Avenue; (c) properties along the north portion of Edgehill Avenue between 17th Avenue South and 16th Avenue South; (d) properties fronting 16th Avenue South and Music Square East between Edgehill Avenue and Division Street; (e) properties lying within an area fronting on the east side of 21st Avenue South from Scarritt Place to Edgehill Avenue; and (f) the properties fronting on the north side Edgehill Avenue to 17th Avenue South.
G. Commercial Noise.
1. No person or persons owning, operating, or having the care, custody, or control of any business or commercial facility shall be permitted to operate any equipment, vehicles, or heavy machinery incident to performing business or commercial functions, or engage in any other business or commercial activity between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. which would emit, cause to be emitted, or permit the emission of any noise in excess of seventy Db(A) as measured from a point as close as possible to the outside walls of any residential structure located within a residential zoning district affected by the noise at a height of four feet above the immediate surrounding surface.
2. For business or commercial facilities located within the CC and CF zoning districts, no person or persons owning, operating, or having the care, custody, or control of any business or commercial facility shall be permitted to operate any equipment, vehicles, or heavy machinery incident to performing business or commercial functions, or engage in any other business or commercial activity between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. which would emit, cause to be emitted, or permit the emission of any noise in excess of eighty-five Db(A) as measured from a point as close as possible to the outside walls of any residential structure located within a residential zoning district affected by the noise at a height of four feet above the immediate surrounding surface.
H. Prohibitions contained in this section shall not be applicable to emergency or public safety vehicles, vehicles owned and operated by the metropolitan government or any utility company, for sound emitted unavoidably during job-related operation, or any motor vehicle used in an authorized public activity for which a permit has been granted by the appropriate agency of the metropolitan government.
Section 3. In the event that any one or more of the provisions contained herein shall, for any reason, be held to be invalid or unenforceable in any respect, such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability shall not affect any other provisions of this agreement, but this agreement shall be construed as if such invalid, illegal or unenforceable provisions had never been contained herein, unless the deletion of such provision or provisions would result in such a material change so as to cause completion of the actions contemplated to be unreasonable.
Section 4. This Ordinance shall take effect from and after its passage, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.
Sponsored by: Mike Jameson, Robert Duvall, Tim Garrett
| LEGISLATIVE HISTORY |
|
|---|---|
| Introduced: | October 7, 2008 |
| Passed First Reading: | October 7, 2008 |
| Referred to: | Public Safety Committee |
| Deferred to November 18, 2008: | October 21, 2008 |
| Deferred: | November 18, 2008 |
| Deferred: | December 2, 2008 |
| Deferred to January 20, 2009: | December 16, 2008 |
| Substitute Introduced: | January 20, 2009 |
| Passed Second Reading: | January 20, 2009 |
| Passed Third Reading: | February 3, 2009 |
| Approved: | February 10, 2009 |
| By: | |