SEBASTIAN — Sebastian’s current noise ordinance leaves too much room for subjective interpretation was the argument Dan Dragonetti made as he tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade the City Council to provide police officers with decibel meters when answering noise complaints.
Dragonetti, who resides in the 1300 block of Barber Street, plays guitar for his own enjoyment, at home. He told Council that police officers have paid him a visit on more than one occasion after neighbors filed noise complaints against him.
Citing portions of the City’s current noise ordinance, Dragonetti told Council that he feels the issue is more the music than the volume and that it wasn’t right that an individual could be fined because “someone doesn’t like you or your music.”
While the ordinance states that “a violation shall occur if circumstances are such that a violation would be obvious to an ordinary, reasonable, prudent person,” Dragonetti contends that “using a decibel meter would provide a more objective, quantitative measure and not just because they don’t like Air Supply” – a popular Australian soft rock duo in the 70s and 80s.
Vice Mayor Don Wright asked Dragonetti if he had actually been cited.
“An officer came to my house,” Dragonetti replied. “He was nice.”
“In other words, the law worked,” said Councilman Jim Hill.
“I had stopped playing by that time,” Dragonetti said.
“I totally understand,” Hill said. “But (even with a decibel meter) all that would have happened anyway. The neighbors would call. The police would come.”
He asked Dragonetti how many citations he had received.
“None,” was the reply. “But you still haven’t answered my question. Will you consider a decibel meter?”
Mayor Bob McPartlan said the City does have a decibel meter but that the ordinance only requires a determination of violation be based on the police officer’s reasonable judgment.
“I went to a street fair in Melbourne and the police were going from business to business with a meter” handing out citations. “It was a mess. I hope we don’t ever see that here.”
“It appears you have already made up your mind ahead of time,” Dragonetti said, returning to his seat.
“I’ve known Dan for years and he’s not a hard core rocker guy,” Councilwoman Andrea Coy said, adding that the issue appeared to be more one of harassment.
Former Councilman Richard Gillmor came forward to address the issue.
“He (Dragonetti) does have a point. I was on the Council when this first came up and it was contentious. Council might want to revisit this, maybe split the noise ordinance. The businesses have a right to have music. There are different noise issues in residential districts. A decibel meter in a residential area could quite possibly work.”