Noise Laws Tweaked Due To Enforcement Issues In Arlington Heights

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — With a number of residents and businesses voicing their concerns over objectionable noise in Arlington Heights, last week the Village Board unanimously approved an ordinance to amend municipal code (chapters 8 and 19). The ordinance was drafted at a Feb. 12 Committee of the Whole meeting.

Fines of up to $750 can be assessed for those violating the noise ordinance.

Between 2022-2023, the Arlington Heights Police Department fielded over 1,200 calls regarding noise-related complaints. Two-thirds of those calls come between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

According to Village Manager Randy Recklaus, the Village adopted State of Illinois Noise Pollution Control Regulations or Noise Pollution Act, "many" years ago.

"We found that in practice, those standards are very difficult to enforce. To enforce them properly, a strict adherence would require the purchase of expensive equipment or hiring consultants," Recklaus said on Feb. 20, adding that consultants would always have to be in the right place at the right time to enforce the law.

Recklaus said the Village has found the rules are "extremely subjective" and perceptions of sound can vary widely based on factors like wind conditions and other ambient noise.

In addition, Recklaus said law enforcement often attempts to get voluntary compliance to resolve neighbor complaints about noise. In many of these cases, one neighbor may find a noise objectionable, while others have no issue with it.

"Each individual officer may also have different standards on what is or isn’t reasonable," Recklaus said. "This has created a subjective and often uneven system for dealing with noise complaints."

According to the meeting's agenda, here is a list of specific prohibitions such as but not limited to:

• General prohibitions on harsh, prolonged, unnatural, noises that interfere with peace and comfort of residences or places of business
• non-emergency signaling devices such as car alarms for periods of longer than one minute
• radios, televisions, portable speakers, etc. that are plainly audible at a distance of 75 feet from the source property
• Amplified loudspeakers, public address systems during the hours between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. on weekdays excepted as permitted elsewhere in the code and between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m.on weekends and holidays when it is within residential (zoned in the "R" categories) or noise sensitive areas, or within a public space
• Loading unloading noises between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. — except downtown during the Alfresco season, where 6 a.m. deliveries would be allowed.
• Yelling and shouting in residential, noise sensitive areas, or in public places between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. (including the Alfresco zone).
• Domestic animals and bird noises
• Construction noises for activity outside approved construction hours
• Use of blowers or combustion engines in residential areas (defined by the “R” zoning districts) between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
• General Noise in residential areas (again “R” Districts, not the downtown) and areas adjacent to residential areas between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

In the ordinance, the Village also listed a number of exemptions, including repairs of utility systems and Village infrastructure, sirens on emergency vehicles, outdoor school and playground activities, outdoor events including athletic events approved by the Village, Village or Park District managed events, church activities that cannot be heard more than 100 feet beyond the church property boundaries between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Church bells are also exempted.

"This is a response to a lot of concerns we've heard residents and businesses make over the years that we don't have something that will allow us to address noise complaints," Mayor Thomas Hayes said. "This gives our police officers a tool to address some of the concerns we've heard. I think it's a good thing we're doing."