Noise ordinance needs sound rewrite

Editorial

It is a screaming shame Hillsborough County residents are defenseless against booming stereos or other shrill noises that can drive people to distraction.

The Tribune's Mike Salinero recently recounted how a disabled 73-year-old dreads being home at night, when young men and women park at a nearby service station and turn their car stereos up full blast.

But though the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office receives about 6,000 noise complaints a year, it has no mechanism to protect the public.

It's been that way for almost three years, thanks to a sluggish county attorney's office.

That may soon change, but Commissioner Al Higginbotham is understandably upset the county has been unable to provide the sheriff's office the legal tools needed to keep the peace.

He says, "It about time the county attorney got serious about working with the sheriff's office and the state attorney's office to bring this situation to an end."

The county has not been able to enforce its noise ordinance since 2009, when a judge found wording in the Hillsborough Environmental Protection Commission's noise rule unconstitutional.

Since the language was similar to the county ordinance, State Attorney Mark Ober understandably said he would not enforce the ordinance.

Commissioners asked the county attorney's office to work with the sheriff's office to develop a rule, but after a few meetings little happened, though the sheriff's office continually sought to have the ordinance rewritten.

Apparently, it was not a priority for former County Attorney Renee Lee, who was terminated last year.

At the urging of Higginbotham and the sheriff's office. the county finally made a feeble effort at revising the law.

A proposed ordinance that recently went before commissioners contained loose language that might not have held up in court. And the proposal would have cut the penalty from a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a $500 fine and 60 days in jail, to a non-criminal infraction, which brings only a $500 fine.

More importantly, civil infractions are not prosecuted by the state attorney's office and would be handled by the county attorney's staff, which, with personnel cutbacks, is ill-equipped to handle the task.

In essence, the ordinance would continue to be unenforceable.

Higginbotham was rightly miffed, and commissioners sought a revision, which should be presented this month.

It is possible to craft a strong and constitutional ordinance. The sheriff's office wants it modeled on language in a Lee County ordinance that was upheld by the 2nd District Court of Appeal. The ordinance described the outlawed noise as "unreasonably loud, raucous, jarring, disturbing or a nuisance."

Hillsborough residents deserve protection from an audio assault that robs them of sleep and security. There is no excuse for the county's lawyers not producing an ordinance that will keep the peace.