City of New Haven photos
Speakers subject to the ordinance amendment.
Drivers blasting music too loudly from pricey speakers can officially face $1,000 fines — and the confiscation of their audio equipment — now that the Board of Alders has unanimously passed an amendment to the city’s noise ordinance.
The new local legislation, passed by alders on Sept. 5, targets automobile drivers who attach speakers to their cars and drive around playing extremely loud music.
Now that the amendment has passed, the city can fine these particular noise-ordinance violators up to $1,000 for a first-time offense, $1,500 for a second offense, and $2,000 for all subsequent offenses.
Police can also confiscate the speakers. (In a June presentation to alders, police leadership said the speaker systems can cost up to $10,000.)
The Elicker administration proposed the amendment after enabling legislation on the state level permitted municipalities to more harshly fine excessive car speaker noise.
“This is somewhat of a game changer,” Wooster Square Alder and Legislation Committee Chair Ellen Cupo said of the amendment on Thursday. “This gives [the ordinance] some teeth.”
The ordinance amendment also expands the way that noise ordinance violations can be measured. The city had already capped noise at a level between 45 and 62 decibels (depending on the location and time of day); the amendment adds that any noise “plainly audible when it can be heard at a distance of one hundred (100) feet from its source, by a person of normal hearing” violates the ordinance.
Last Tuesday, alders passed a handful of last-minute amendments to the ordinance.
They clarified that the new fines apply to speakers attached to a car’s exterior as well as speakers inside the vehicle.
They established a mechanism by which drivers can retrieve their confiscated speakers within 45 days of the fine.
And they wrote that police can stop music-blasting cars “upon probable cause” that they are violating the ordinance.
This last addition, Cupo said, is “coming from a racial justice, social justice standpoint.” She said the “probable cause” language is meant to emphasize that police need a documented reason to stop cars in violation of the noise ordinance.
Officers will have to turn on their body cameras to record the music from a 100-foot distance, she said. Citing an example given by Westville Alder Adam Marchand, Cupo said, “we don’t want a situation where somebody is pulled over because there’s no [snow] tire.”
Cupo reflected on broad support for the ordinance amendment from constituents.
“A lot of folks came and talked about how it affected their quality of life — this really loud music, making an unbelievable amount of noise all day and all night,” she said. “People have a right to peace. I’m proud that this came through.”
Can we add to this loud pipes? The fact of the matter is that those are 100x more frequent and of a nuisance as loud music.