There appears to be little appetite for any kind of county-wide noise ordinance, as Mariposa County Supervisor Miles Menetrey quickly discovered last week.
Menetrey floated the idea past the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors, more as a starting point for a discussion than a final plan.
The ordinance he drafted would prohibit, between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., any loud music, amplified sound, shouting, fighting, power tools or noise from loitering.
“Essentially,” he said, “any disturbance that disrupts sleep or the peace.”
The idea was quickly shot down.
First, by the sheriff.
Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese seemed wary of the idea without more details and discussion.
“There are very different cultures and areas throughout the county,” Briese cautioned.
“It’s very different in town where you’re three feet from the property line than if you live on a hundred acres,” he said.
Briese added that there is a good system already in place with the penal code for disturbing the peace (PC 415).
But Justin Barnard told the board that hasn’t worked with a couple of new neighbors in Yaqui Gulch.
He said there is loud music at night, shooting off firearms and operating heavy equipment at 1 a.m.
“We have brought these issues up, and we’ve had that discussion that there is no (noise) ordinance, and there’s not much we can do,” Barnard said.
Menetrey said a similar story, from an exasperated constituent, is what motivated him to bring the issue up to the board.
Menetrey said she told him she was “powerless over a disruptive neighbor,” and sheriff’s deputies reportedly told her there was nothing they could do.
There were 25 disturbing the peace calls, he said.
Menetrey asked sheriff Briese for reports and said he thought the sheriff was on board with some kind of noise ordinance.
Until the sheriff was standing at the microphone.
“I thought we were on the same page. I’m a little surprised at your response,” Menetrey told Briese.
“If 415 (disturbing the peace) works, then why are we not using it,” Menetrey asked.
Briese explained that disturbing the peace is used a bit like the trespassing ordinance and the response is escalated when there appears to be malicious intent.
A noise ordinance could be turned on people, Briese said.
“It basically becomes weaponized. Right at 10:01 p.m. they’re calling if they’ve had a civil dispute,” Briese said.
County Administrative Officer Joe Lynch pointed out that there are noise restrictions on conditional use permits for such places as Happy Goat and The Grove House.
Lynch said there are also noise restrictions for short term rental units.
The sheriff lamented that he would like to have been pulled into the discussion earlier.
But Menetrey pointed out that under California’s Brown Act, even these kinds of exploratory discussions need to take place in a public forum.
“We can’t get it done behind closed doors,” Menetrey said. “At least I got the conversation to the dais.”
In the end, no direction was given to staff to work on a noise ordinance, but Menetrey said he may continue to look into it. His curiosity seemed piqued.
He also seemed genuinely surprised the board didn’t hear from more members of the public, given what would seem like a hot button issue.
“To be honest, I wish the public would weigh in on this. Maybe once it hits the paper, like every other conversation we have, it blows up.”
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