They came to make some noise lobbying for peace and quiet.
A group of nearly 40 Holmes Beach residents, led by “Kentucky” Kim Rash, arrived early at the April 26 Holmes Beach Commission work session ready to give commissioners earfuls of advice.
“Our noise issues with many businesses have been addressed and solved in large part,” Rash said in a five-page statement read aloud at the meeting. “What we need to address now is a larger problem of rentals embedded among our valuable residents, many of whom owned their homes many years before rentals were built.”
Rash and his group contend police are lax in enforcing the Holmes Beach ban against noise levels exceeding 65 decibels.
“Violators need to be cited, not given warnings,” according to Rash. “Warnings don’t do the residents any favors.”
Police Chief Bill Tokajer said an outreach program instituted in March is having an immediate effect in muting noise from party houses. He said seven rental homes already receive regular visits from officers inform renters they should keep noise to a level suitable to a residential neighborhood.
“Any place in the city getting a noise complaint gets a visit from the HBPD first, then a visit from (code enforcement officer) JT Thomas the next day with educational materials,” Tokajer said.
Some rental sites have begun to specialize in beachfront weddings, which can be noisy affairs. It’s also hard to expect a group to tone it down on such a special occasion.
Chair Judy Titsworth reluctantly said adopting a wedding permit ordinance may be the solution.
“Are we really going to have to create a law saying you can have one wedding in a place per year?” Titsworth asked.
Attorney Jim Dye of Harrison Dye, representing the city on the noise matter, told commissioners that Holmes Beach sorts noise issues using the “reasonable person standard,” which has been found legally defensible. The noise must be something a normal person would find objectionable.
Holmes Beach trains officers to use a decibel reader, which provides evidence of an offense if properly calibrated.
The city applies seven standards in determining a noise violation: volume, intensity, duration, whether the sound is unusual, proximity to noise, contrast with ambient noise and time of occurrence.
Daytime noise from a pool is unlikely to be a violation, he said.
“I can see somebody defending this, saying it’s a beach town, there’s a pool in the backyard and the kids are playing in the pool,” Dye said. “That’s going to be a tough argument to make.”
Tokajer agreed, saying daytime pool noise does not usually constitute a violation.
Holmes Beach officers take decibel readings at three different spots when answering complaints. If it pegs over 65 decibels, it’s illegal, Tokajer said.
Rash said ineffective Holmes Beach decibel readers cannot differentiate between ambient noise and the din from party properties.
“This is the No. 1 problem in Holmes Beach,” Rash claimed.
Rash offered several potential solutions, including $75 fines for first offenses ranging up to $750 for a fourth offense, establishing a Good Neighbor Committee to brings residents and rental owners together, holding owners responsible for noise violations at rentals and capping the number of vacation certificates offered by the city.
Not all suggestions met legal muster.
City attorney Patricia Petruff, a principal in a law firm with Dye, said state law prevents the city from capping the number of vacation rental certificates issued.
Dye said legal precedence favors rental property owners, too.
“One city tried to make the owner responsible for noise on his property,” Dye said. “It did not go well. The city needs to bring in the person making the noise.”
Dye said nuisance-property enforcement might be a better approach than issuing noise citations.
The commission reached consensus to take another look soon at tightening Holmes Beach noise laws.
Commissioner Jim Kihm already leans toward stiffer fines as a noise deterrent.
“I can’t think of anything that would spoil my vacation more than getting a $1,000 citation,” Kihm said.
Commissioners also received updates from city engineer Lynn Burnett on skate park and bike path-pedestrian safety improvements.
A Holmes Beach bike path-pedestrian proposal recently received interim approval from the Florida Department of Transportation, which means the city may start work as early as May. Burnett emphasized all major plan components are on city property.
Roughly a dozen skate-park users attended the nearly four-hour meeting waiting until nearly the end to offer suggestions on improving Burnett’s proposal. The city budgeted $100,000 for skate-park upgrades this year.
The consensus among the skate-park users is the city should invest in a concrete bowl, which is the quietest surface, and also consider expanding the park footprint.
“The material you guys are using is extremely outdated,” said Corey Wash, a 17-year skateboarding veteran. “Prefabricated parks are kind of becoming prehistoric in this world of skateboarding.”
Burnett was directed to look at expanding the park and reconsider the equipment recommendations.