By Rodd Cayton
By the time the springtime patio music season begins, the Village of Corrales should have new rules in place spelling out how loud the performers can get.
At their Oct. 27 meeting, village councilors laid out a process for rewriting the municipal noise ordinance. They’re trying to ensure homeowners have the rural tranquility common to Corrales while not hindering restaurants and bars offering the outdoor music that’s vital to their bottom lines.
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| Corrales Village Hall. (Jesse Jones) |
The village attorney and administration are now redrafting the proposed ordinance, which is expected to to set precise daytime and nighttime decibel limits. Village officials intend to bring the new version back to the council for publication, with a later formal public hearing before a final vote.
The village’s existing regulation bans sound that annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort and peace of others, but a municipal judge declared it unenforceable, after an establishment was cited for a noise violation. The problem, village officials said, is that those terms are all subjective. To fix the ambiguity, the proposed revisions introduce objective, measurable decibel thresholds recorded at the receiving property line, along with specific hours of operation and a dedicated permitting process for amplified outdoor sound.
Several residents spoke of weekend performances that reverberate through their walls and disrupt sleep, reading or other activities.
Resident Sabine Shurter told councilors that those living near music venues have the right to the quiet enjoyment of their properties. She said loud music acts differently from the ambient sounds of the village. “Low frequencies like the deep bass and drum sounds generated by live outdoor bands have massive wavelengths that easily bend around obstacles, travel over open fields, and experience almost no atmospheric friction,” Shurter said. “Consequently, this low-frequency noise remains plainly audible to the unaided ear from Corrales Road all the way to the Bosque. The proposed draft ordinance properly recognizes the obligation of the village to protect the right to quiet enjoyment of one’s property, safeguard all property values, foster respect among neighbors, and keep the peace within the village.”
Sybil Keyser spoke against the ordinance, saying most of the village’s 9,000 residents are happy with the status quo. “It’s not a noise ordinance; it’s a music ordinance,” Keyser said. “If it was a noise ordinance, it would monitor the weed whackers and the leaf blowers and the traffic and the incessant dogs, but you can’t monitor any of that. So it’s a music ordinance … and there’s three businesses, three nights a week, three months of the year (where) people can enjoy that music.”
While much of the debate focused on amplified music, one resident suggested that the village consider phasing out gas-powered maintenance equipment such as mowers and leaf blowers.
Councilor Zachary Burkett called the draft ordinance, based on the rules of nearby municipalities and a report prepared by a sound engineer, “well written,” and suggested moving forward. “I worry enforceability is going to be a problem, but it’s dramatically better than what we have now,” he said “There’s going to be some modifications along the way, and it’s going to be far from perfect. But I think it’s a step in the right direction. Hopefully, everybody feels like it got a little bit better and everyone’s also a little bit upset that it’s not what they want it to be and everybody’s equally unhappy. Then I think we did our job.”