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Pound Ridge Town Board Revises Noise Ordinance

POUND RIDGE, N.Y. – The Pound Ridge Town Board has revised the town’s noise ordinance in an effort to make it clearer for residents to understand and make it easier for police to enforce.

“We’ve been working on this since last October,” said Supervisor Gary Warshauer.

The revised ordinance now states that it is unlawful to engage in conduct that will create 45 decibels of noise for 30-minute periods between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Homeowners also may not engage in conduct that makes noise that endangers the health, comfort, or repose of a “reasonable person.”

The exception to those stipulation are in the wake of a power outage or weather-related when snow blowers, chainsaws and power generators may be necessary. Those types of things are exempted up to 24 hours after the power is restored.

“Once the power is restored, you need to turn your generator off,” Warshauer said.

Penalties for breaking the noise ordinance are a warning citation for the first offense, a fine of $100 to $250 for the second offense within a year, and a $250 to $1,000 fine for the third offense within a year.

“I do think the way this has been drafted we have achieved our objective,” said Town Council member Dan Paschkes. “It lets the [police] officers remind the residents of what they can and cannot do. I think the gentle approach [of giving a warning first] is good. Most of the time, officers would issue first-time offenders a warning anyway, so we’re really not changing the way things are done. We are just codifying it.”

The board passed the revised ordinance unanimously.

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