Dog owners stand up for their hunting heritage

fr jacksonhuntersA burley crowd wearing their long lineage of Appalachian ancestry proudly on their sleeves stared down Jackson County commissioners this week, decrying the idea of an ordinance that would muzzle their hunting dogs.

Maggie tightens up noise ordinance, again

Maggie Valley was thrust back into controversy over its noise ordinance last week, an ongoing debate that has pitted residents against bars hosting live bands outdoors.

Only four months after the previous town board made changes to the noise ordinance, the current town board decided once again to revise the law — causing concern for some residents.

“You’re changing something that you don’t even know if you’ve fixed yet,” said resident Cheryl Lambert. Lambert said she thought the issue had already been settled in September.

The former Board of Aldermen altered the noise ordinance last fall after complaints from some town residents and lodging owners.

Mayor Ron DeSimone said the old board left disputes regarding the ordinance unsettled — namely the cut-off time for music and a separate criteria for acoustic music.

“Even on the board there was no complete agreement on the times, on not addressing acoustic music,” DeSimone said.

Last September, the town board strengthened the noise ordinance by imposing an earlier cut-off time for music on weekdays and lowering the maximum decibel level.

Last week, the board strengthened it one notch more by imposing earlier cut-off times for amplified outdoor music on Friday and Saturday nights, plus an even earlier cut-off on weekdays.

However, an exception was made for acoustic music, which will enjoy a later cut-off time since it isn’t amplified and thus not as loud.

“We have encouraged acoustic music versus amplified music,” DeSimone said.

Residents and hotel owners complaining of noise spilling over from nearby bars claim the ordinance still doesn’t go far enough, however.

The noise ordinance does not apply to the fairgrounds, which negotiates such details with event organizers on a case-by-case basis.

 

‘Prisoners in our own home’

During the meeting, several residents and business owners spoke up about how music emanating from Maggie Valley restaurants and bars negatively impacts them.

“It’s louder than most of you think,” said resident Rosanne Cavender. “It’s very stressful.”

Her father Ray Kuutti, who is a musician, backed Cavender’s comments.

“I was outside painting, and this stuff started going on, and I couldn’t stay out there,” he said. Kuutti added that he does not mind the outdoor acoustic music, which generates less noise.

Alderman Mike Matthews argued that people chose to live in the tourist town and must therefore tolerate some additional noise.

“We are not going back to the old noise ordinance at all (but) I am not willing to shut everything down at 6 o’clock,” Matthews said.

Lambert said she would like to move if she could but when her house was put up for sale, it stayed on the market for two years without being purchased. The reason, she said, is because of the noise.

“We are prisoners in our own home,” said Lambert, who lives near the Maggie Valley Inn. “We can’t watch TV; we can’t turn on the radio; we can’t go outside.”

Some Maggie Valley hotels and inns have lost business because the noise emitted from nearby restaurants disturbs their guests.

“There needs to be a level of respect and decorum,” said Carol Burrell, who runs the Creekside Lodge near the Tiki House Seafood and Oyster Bar. “If I can hear music in my business and it’s coming from inside a business, how loud is it?”

Last year, the Maggie Valley Police Department responded to 37 noise complaints.

In a complaint against Hurley’s, Jonathan Creek Inn owner Jeff Smith said he refused to lose any more money because noise from the restaurant disturbs his clients.

In several instances, the Maggie Valley police responded to a complaint and asked the offender to keep it down. However, an officer was forced to return later when the noise once again became a problem.

“Once or twice I heard them turn it down, but it never stayed down,” Kuutti said.

Several individuals also stated that businesses would quiet down before a police officer could measure the noise level to avoid getting in trouble. Officers are required to measure the sound level for 20 seconds while standing no more than 10 feet away from the property line, a procedure that gives bands enough warning to turn down their sound

 

Reining it in

Original ordinance

Cut-off time: 11 p.m. Mon-Sat

Decibel level: 75 on weekends, 65 on weekdays

Changes made last September:

Cut-off time: 11 p.m. on weekends, 10 p.m. on weekdays

Decibel level: 70 on weekends, 65 on weekdays

Changes made last week:

Cut-off time: 10 p.m. on weekends, 9 p.m. on weekdays*

Decibel level: 70 on weekends, 65 on weekdays

* An exception is made for acoustic music, which can be played until 10:30 p.m. on weekdays and until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

 

Noise complaints by the numbers

• Tiki House Seafood and Oyster Bar: 6 (all during August)

• Salty Dog’s Seafood and Grill: 4

• Hurley’s Creekside Dining and Rhum Bar: 4 (all during July)

• Barking Dogs: 4

• Maggie Valley Inn: 2

• Stingrays: 1

• Maggie Valley Festival Grounds: 1

• Other homes and rentals: 15

Are dog-barking complainers simply howling at the moon?

The yippy-yappy cries of barking dogs have left Jackson County commissioners in a quandary as they face a rising tide of howls from unhappy residents.

How best to balance dog owners’ rights with residents’ growls for peace?

“I’m hoping that somebody has a magic solution out there,” County Manager Chuck Wooten said. “Because it’s a heck of a thing to figure out how to enforce.”

The county manager said that in addition to hearing multiple complaints from the public during recent county commissioner meetings, he’s received numerous emails and letters asking something be done.

Both Haywood and Swain counties have regulations governing barking dogs; Jackson and Macon do not.

Swain County, facing mounting complaints as Jackson is now, ultimately adopted state regulations that prohibit “habitual” barking dog offenders, Commissioner David Monteith said. Because as Wooten pointed out, it’s difficult to write an ordinance that commissioners will agree to pass and that is actually enforceable by local government.

“We looked at, I think, a dozen different ordinances,” Monteith said, “and couldn’t agree on any of them. We finally just adopted the state law.”

The keyword, Monteith emphasized, is “habitual.” It is an easier strategy than setting absolute limits, such as a certain time of night when no barking is allowed or a specific duration of barking that is just too much.

Haywood County’s ordinance regulates “frequent or long continued barking” that “disturbs the peace, quiet and comfort of residents of the area.”

Swain’s ordinance allows hunting dogs to bay unfettered, something that keeps local hunters happy — and they are always a strong political force to be reckoned with by local governments here in hunting-happy Western North Carolina.

But other residents weary of listening to neighbors’ dogs are pushing Jackson County commissioners hard. The latest complaint came from Margo Gray, who pleaded with commissioners earlier this month to do something. Gray, who owns three dogs of her own, is actively known for her work in the community promoting canine causes as a leader of the Western Carolina Dog Fanciers Association.

But now, Gray is entangled in a civil case with one of her neighbors in Webster, where she’s lived for 16 years, because of incessant barking by this neighbor’s dog.

“With owning a dog comes responsibility,” said Gray, who is co-owner of The Sylva Herald newspaper.

Gray said the barking, which she can hear inside her home day and night, is ruining her life.

David Young, who lives in Cashiers, couldn’t agree more. He expressed optimism this week that county workers truly seem interested in finding a solution, but that upbeat assessment was tempered by the fact he’s been complaining since 2008 on behalf of residents in Red Fox subdivision.

Young said the residents there are at their “last resort,” as is Gray, of “having to take their own legal action” against the dog owner to quiet the barking.

It shouldn’t be left to taxpaying residents to be forced into the court system to settle these matters, Young said, who added the question, “how is not acting on this helping to keep the peace?”

Wooten said he would ask County Planner Gerald Green to review dog-barking related ordinances; specifically, what might fall under the health department’s possible jurisdiction, and to consult with Sheriff Jimmy Ashe. Once Green has completed the research, he will present those findings to the county planning board to draft an ordinance for possible recommendation to commissioners, Wooten said.

Barking dogs spark pleas for ordinance change

Residents in a Cashiers subdivision weary of incessant dog barking called on county commissioners this week to help them find some peace and quiet.

“For the past six years, our community has had to deal with a kennel of dogs that bark day and night,” Bill Armgard said. “It’s just maddening. It is stressful 24 hours a day.”

Armgard, speaking on behalf of residents in Red Fox Ridge in the Norton community, asked commissioners to please amend the county’s noise ordinance to muzzle barking dogs.

Armgard was armed with a recording of the dogs’ barking to share with commissioners. He opted not to play it for fear of seeming inappropriate or disrespectful, Armgard said after the meeting.

About 40 people attended the board meeting, held in Cashiers at the Albert Carlton Library.

Another resident in a different part of the county also recently asked commissioners to tackle the problem of barking dogs. That resident had added concerns about a neighbor firing guns.

County Planner Gerald Green noted that Jackson and Macon counties are the only local governments in the immediate region who do not have restrictions on noises made by pets and animals.

Jackson County adopted a noise ordinance in 1991; it was last amended in 2003. The county’s noise ordinance essentially prohibits any “loud, raucous and disturbing noise,” defined as “any sound, which because of its volume level, duration and character annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, health peace or safety of reasonable persons of ordinary sensibilities,” Green said.

Even if barking meets that definition, a noise ordinance doesn’t apply to pets unless it specifically says so — which Jackson’s doesn’t.

David Young, also a resident of the Norton community, provided commissioners with a copy of a letter he wrote to the dogs’ owner in July 2010, asking that something be done.

“You and I understand that roosters crow, cows moo, people talk and dogs bark,” Young wrote on the behalf of the residents of Red Fox Ridge. “Obviously, these are all natural forms of behavior/communication. My point is that typically domesticated animals are quiet at night. The nighttime barking from dogs can, I believe, be equated to a person yelling … ‘hey, hey, hey … hey … hey, hey, hey … hey, hey, hey’ outside someone’s home incessantly at inappropriate times. I believe the golden rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you applies here.”

The letter, Young told commissioners, fell on deaf ears.

Green asked that the board consider the requests and decide if it wanted him to work with the sheriff’s department on barking-dog restrictions.

Maggie hears complaints, revisits noise ordinance

Maggie Valley doesn’t usually spring to mind as the noisiest of places in Haywood County. It’s a place known more for its pastoral mountain setting and quaint old-time kitsch than bustling nightlife.

But a spate of protests have prompted town staff to reconsider their rules on noise, which could put a damper on bands looking to spice up the valley’s evening offerings.

Currently, Maggie Valley has a noise ordinance that goes by use, time and actual loudness.

If you’re a business, nothing over 65 decibels until 11 p.m. on weekdays. That number goes down to 60 from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. On weekends, you can crank it up to 75 decibels until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, 6 p.m. on Sunday.

A new standard being put forth by town leaders knocks down the weekend level to a top volume of 70 on weekends and holidays, and cuts the hours back to 10 p.m. on weekdays.

Some business owners in the valley, however, say it’s just not prohibitive enough.

At a town board meeting last week, Carol Burrell, who manages the Creekside Lodge, complained that bands playing across the street were loud enough to easily drown out her own music.

“The decibel level of 70 still is too excessive,” said Burrell. “This is hurting my business and it needs to be lower than 70. I just don’t need to be listening to someone else’s music in my home.”

Others in the crowd countered that live music was bringing much needed tourists and revenue to Maggie Valley, which suffered with the closing of the Eaglesnest and Carolina Nights, two event venues that once brought live acts to the valley.

Police Chief Scott Sutton, who has been researching and working on the ordinance for the town, sympathized with business owners resenting the need to cover their ears but emphasized that the new rule was still a work in progress.

“We try to work with the businesses, and we try to work with the residents, but when you get a business that’s pushing the limits, that’s where you get where we are today,” said Sutton. “All we’re asking is a little time to do some research.”

To those accusing the town of over-strictness and regulating away customers, Sutton pointed out that Maggie Valley is not on the strictest end of the spectrum.

“I‘ll be honest, our ordinance, as strict as we think it is in some ways, it’s not as strict compared to other places,” said Sutton.

In Waynesville, for instance, the upper decibel level is 60 without a permit. Even with a permit, the high water mark is 70, and only before 11 p.m. on Thursday and midnight on Friday and Saturday. Anyone wanting to amplify their sound outside must get a permit, no matter how soft the sound.

Sylva won’t allow any noise that can be heard at all 20 feet from its origin after 11 p.m.

Of main concern in Maggie Valley are the very few bars in town that offer late night options and outdoor music, though Sutton noted at the meeting that the cooling weather may take care of the problem before the ordinance this season.

While motel manager Burrell said she doesn’t object to having live entertainment in Maggie Valley, having it in her house or her guests’ rooms is quite another matter. The fix, she said, is simple.

“Come into my motel rooms and come into my home, and have them turn it down until I can’t hear it.”

Late-night bands could be silenced by tougher Sylva noise ordinance

When it comes to noise, Commissioner Harold Hensley of the Sylva town board is clearly prepared to make a bit of it himself if necessary to get others to turn the volume down.

“The complaint I’ve got is when you can hear music in your house with your door shut,” Hensley told a restaurant owner during a discussion of the proposed ordinance at a town meeting last week. “I don’t need to hear it in my living room.”

Tori Walters, a co-owner of The Soul Infusion Tea House and Bistro, was one of several who shared concerns over the ordinance at a public hearing last week.

“We’d like to have the opportunity to have a little fun in town,” Walters said.

Under the new ordinance, noise heard more than 20 feet from its source between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. is too loud.

Hensley has led a push recently to tighten the town’s ordinance. Walters pointed out that Hensley didn’t exactly live in a rural section of Sylva, however.

“I do want you to know I lived out of town,” the commissioner responded. “Town came to me.”

Hensley suggested Walters consider a “sound shell” to help contain the music at the restaurant, which has a small outdoor stage.

“Your entertainment cannot disturb the neighborhood,” he said.

The town’s current noise ordinance relies on the key words “reasonably prudent,” as in what an average person would consider to be excessively loud between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

The new language sets a distance requirement: “The playing of any musical instrument or electronic sound amplification equipment outdoors or from a motor vehicle, between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., that can be heard from an adjoining property or at distance of greater than 20 feet from the sound source.”

Other towns, such as Highlands most recently, have opted to rely less on subjectivity and instead have set decibel levels that can’t be exceeded.

Walters told commissioners she did not actually have any problems or objections to the tougher ordinance. What she did want, however, was for the town to be aware of the need for business owners to bring in live entertainment to help attract customers, and not to become increasingly restrictive.

Walters said during a grand-opening celebration a few months ago, the restaurant had a rock-and-roll band perform. It was a successful draw, but “they wanted to squeal their wheels a bit,” she said of band members, and perhaps were noisier than they should have been. Walters said she is attentive to the noise levels and has asked groups to turn it down, and that the rock-and-roll group was the exception, not the rule.

“A lot of businesses are pretty loud around there, I’m not the only one,” she told Hensley, pointing out that UPS, which is next to the Soul Infusion, is even louder when workers there are using pneumatic tools to fix equipment.

Mayor Maurice Moody assured Walters and the crowd of 20 or so gathered for the hearing that the noise ordinance “is not directed solely toward Soul Infusion.”

And Commissioner Danny Allen added that he recently received complaints from a town resident about music from another restaurant: “You are not the only one,” Allen told Walters.

Amanda Dugan, a Western Carolina University student, also cautioned commissioners not to be excessive in applying noise-ordinance restrictions. They risked squelching the local economy if they do that, she said.

“If they are not going to be having music, I’m going to Asheville,” Dugan said. “It is really important to have somewhere in town we can go and spend our money locally.”

Curt Collins also asked commissioners not to become overzealous in regulating noise.

“It seems like there’s been a lot of clampdown lately,” Collins, a farmer with Avant Garden in Cullowhee, said.

Noise ordinance in Sylva getting tweaked tighter

Sylva leaders are looking to tighten the town’s noise ordinance on the heels of complaints by one of their own.

Commissioner Harold Hensley, who lives in the N.C. 107 area of Sylva, said he took calls a few weeks ago from neighbors about the loudness of music from a nearby restaurant. Hensley said he believes people should be able to sit outside their own homes if they want and enjoy a cookout without being bothered by loud music.

“You can’t contain all noise,” the town’s attorney, Eric Ridenour, told Hensley, adding that “loud” is in the ear of the beholder, as it were.

“A noise ordinance should be applied when you are disturbing people. I don’t care what time of the day or night,” Hensley said. “If I can’t talk (and be heard), I say it’s unreasonable.”

Hensley emphasized he is not against music; that he just objects to excessive noise: “If it’s so loud when I sit on my deck and I can’t talk to the person next to me, it’s too loud,” he said.

The town’s current noise ordinance carries the key words “reasonably prudent;” as in what an average person would consider to be excessively loud noises taking place between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

The new language would read: “The playing of any musical instrument or electronic sound amplification equipment outdoors or from a motor vehicle, between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., that can be heard from an adjoining property or at distance of greater than 20 feet from the sound source.”

Like Ridenour, former Assistant District Attorney and current Commissioner Chris Matheson cautioned her fellow board members that noise ordinances are difficult to enforce. She recommended they consider an “objective test,” such as using a decibel reader, which many towns already use.

Matheson, however, bowed to the new language stipulating an actual 20-foot distance after Police Chief Davis Woodard said that had been his recommendation and remained his preference.

Tori Walters, co-owner of the Soul Infusion Tea House and Bistro, the restaurant on N.C. 107 that apparently sparked Hensley’s neighbors’ ire, said Monday the distance requirement would not “bother us at all.”

“We have worked diligently making sure that all the music played at our establishment is at reasonable decibel levels,” Walters said, adding that they ask musicians not to play after 10:30 p.m., a 30-minute cutoff prior to the town’s 11 p.m. requirement.

 

Noise ordinance public hearing

What: The town of Sylva is tightening its noise ordinance

When: July 7 at 5:30 p.m.

Where: Town Hall

Town quells Allens Creek ‘jake’ brake problem

Residents along Allens Creek in Waynesville are cheering a long-sought ban on the use of “jake” brakes by gravel trucks on their way to and from a rock quarry located in their otherwise residential community.

“It is like living in a different world out here,” Charles Miller, a resident of Allens Creek, said of the ban. “It’s definitely quieter up Allens Creek.”

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