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St. Petersburg officials to take another look at noise ordinance

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

St. Petersburg’s Planning and Economic Development Department set another date in its re-evaluation of a 2016 amendment to a city noise ordinance.

It will be the second public meeting on the noise ordinance and will be 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, at Sunshine Center in St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce advocacy manager Travis Norton said Tuesday.

In 2016, the city officials amended the noise ordinance to accommodate residents and businesses. It requires bars and restaurants with outdoor speakers to point them toward customers, not away from the establishment.

The meeting Wednesday is designed to gain more input from the community on potential changes to how the city measures noise decibels and review a framework for its amendment.

“Right now, if someone makes a complaint, they have to go out and actually measure the decibels,” Norton said by phone.

Part of the problem is the ordinance calls for “audible” levels, not decibels. The meeting will partially be used to iron out those issues and bring a common-sense approach to the matter.

 

Les Neuhaus is an all-platform journalist, with specialties in print reporting and writing. In addition to Florida Politics, he freelances as a general-assignment and breaking-news reporter for most of the major national daily newspapers, along with a host of digital media, and a human rights group. A former foreign correspondent across Africa and Asia, including the Middle East, Les covered a multitude of high-profile events in chronically-unstable nations. He’s a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, in which he served as a Security Policeman, and graduated from the University of Tennessee with a B.A. in political science. He is a proud father to his daughter and enjoys spending time with his family.

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