HomeMy WebLinkAboutZTA201000008 Legacy Document 2011-06-28 (4)ZTA 2010-08 Farm Winery Sound
Regulations
Board of Supervisors Public Hearing
March 9, 2011
Background
The farm winery sound standard for outdoor
amplified music revised from a decibel standard
on May 5, 2010 to an audibility standard
enforced by Zoning.
❖Public roundtable on December 2, 2010.
❖Board resolution of intent on January Stn
:•Planning Commission work session on January
18t ".
�:•On March Is', Planning Commission
recommended (4 -3) audibility standard enforced
by Police.
Discussion - Intro
Public Purpose: A County -wide sound
standard must consider the needs of the farm
winery industry to preserve economic vitality
and the effect of outdoor amplified music on
residents living nearby.
Sound standard must be reasonable, effective
and efficient in its administration and
enforcement.
Sound Standard:
Reasonable - a) must consider both needs of wineries
and of neighbors; b) must be possible to achieve; c)
must be objective; and d) must be easily measureable.
We have already established a reasonable community sound
standard for the RA and Residential districts as expressed in
the maximum sound levels of Z.O. Section 4.18. These
standards were adopted in 2000, after extensive community
sound readings and with the assistance of a community Noise
Task Force. They are consistent with many other localities'
regulations and have worked well for land -use sound
regulation. No new equipment, training or calibration are
required for Zoning to enforce a decibel -based ordinance.
found standard and Enforcemew-W
Effective - a) must serve the intended purposes; b)
should treat equal situations equally; and c)
preferably allows those regulated to determine if
they are in compliance.
Effective Standard: Decibel -based standard a)
treats RA land uses consistently; and b) best allows
wineries to determine compliance before and during
events.
Effective Enforcement: Civil process best allows for
long -term solution with injunction. "Court order" allows
Judge to impose significant sanctions and can remain in
effect as long as needed.
Effective Enforcement (cont'd)
Effective - a) must serve the intended purposes; b)
should treat equal situations equally; and c)
preferably allows those regulated to determine if
they are in compliance.
Due to resource limitations and the low priority of this
type call, even though they are working nights &
weekends - there is no guarantee Police will be able to
respond during event .
This typically involves recurring events that Zoning can
plan to attend to confirm compliance or take necessary
action with noncompliance.
Enforcement:
Efficient - a) capable of achieving the desired result
with the minimum use of resources and time; and
b) uses most appropriate resources.
A noise complaint is a low- priority Police call and they
can only respond if available. Because there are fewer
staff to focus on public safety than recommended, using
Police resource can delay responses for public safety
calls. Based on this and the benefit of civil enforcement
process, staff recommends that the Police Department is
not the appropriate staff resource for this enforcement.
Enforcement (cont'd) 0
Efficient - a) capable of achieving the desired
result with the minimum use of resources and
time; and b) uses most appropriate resources.
The desired result is to avoid violations and to abate
them when they occur. Staff suggests that a decibel
standard will address impacts on the neighbors and
better allow wineries to avoid violations. The civil
process will better allow us to assure continued
compliance.
Recommendation
Staff recommends approval of draft ordinance with a
decibel standard enforced by Zoning (Attachment F).
Alternatively, the Board may choose to support
audibility standard enforced by Police (Attachment E).
In this case, will need to defer to a future public hearing
to amend Chapter 7 for the General Noise Regulations
and Chapter 18 Zoning Ordinance.
County Police Chief Sellers will now speak to the issue of
Police enforcement of this regulation.