Highlands board weighs aligning noise and nuisance rules after enforcement complaints

Police Chief Holland told the Highlands Town Board at its March 19 workshop that the town’s decibel-based noise ordinance can clash with a broader nuisance or "noise disturbance" standard, producing inconsistent enforcement and confusion for officers and residents.

"As they are written and enforced right now, they can conflict with each other and that's creating confusion for both officers, residents, and the visitors," Chief Holland said, urging the board to "take a closer look at our current noise ordinance and nuisance ordinance." He presented a sample ordinance and suggested tying nuisance factors (time of day, duration and location) more explicitly to objective measures such as decibel thresholds.

Board members discussed applying objective decibel thresholds more strictly in commercial areas while allowing some subjectivity in residential neighborhoods. One commissioner said the town has followed decibel readings for years but then reverted to the broader nuisance standard when complaints continued. "That's what we want," Chief Holland replied, describing draft guidance he highlighted for officers on time, duration and type of noise to reduce subjectivity.

Several speakers raised local examples. A commissioner described a downtown business called the Smokehouse that had been cited multiple times despite measured readings that were below the decibel threshold, saying the business paid fines listed approximately as "$100, $500, $1,000, or whatever the numbers were." Chief Holland and others noted Highlands’ topography can amplify sound and complicate enforcement, and that officers sometimes did not have meters on scene (an equipment gap one speaker said had been addressed that week).

Board members and the town attorney, Nick, discussed that some subjectivity may be inherent in any noise ordinance but said clarity and officer guidance could reduce perceptions of bias and inconsistent outcomes. Chair (S3) asked that the police chief and staff work with Nick to draft proposed ordinance language and enforcement guidelines and bring the package back to the board for further review.

The chief emphasized the goal was not to eliminate enforcement of disruptive noise but to make the standards consistent and explainable to residents and businesses so officers could apply them uniformly.