During the City Council Work Session of April 16, 2018, a brief update on the status of the City's noise ordinances was presented to the Council. Council directed staff to proceed with a Scope of Work prepared and conducted by Dan Autenrieth, Ph.d, Assistant Professor, Industrial Hygiene Program Manager, Safety, Health and Industrial Hygiene Department, Montana Tech University. Dr. Autenrieth estimates his review and presentation to the Council will be ready by late August 2018.
While his review is in progress, Council directed staff to proceed with minor amendments to the current noise ordinances that will assist in enforcing such ordinances. These amendments to Billings, Montana City Code, Sections 17-106 and 17-107, were briefly reviewed with the Council during the April 16, 2018, work session update and provide as follows:

1.17-106(a): Limiting the number of waivers granted to events by allowing a maximum of four waivers in a twelve-month calendar period;
2.17-106(a): Excluding the Central Business District and the East Billings Urban Renewal District from the waiver limit above;
3.17-106(c) Clarifying the timing of an appeal to the City Council after a waiver has been denied by staff;
4.17-107(a): Changing the penalty for any noise ordinance violation from a misdemeanor to a Municipal Infraction.

The Council approved these amendments on First Reading and after a Public Hearing during the May 14, 2018, Regular Meeting. During the Council discussion on the proposed amendments, Councilmember Cromley requested additional information as to the reason for exclusion of the Central Business District (CBD) and the East Billings Urban Renewal District (EBURD) from the waiver limits in the proposed amendments to Section 17-106(a).

In 2013, the Council discussed previous amendments to the noise ordinance. The minutes of the April 15, 2013, work session and the May 13, 2013, Regular meeting reflect that the Council (primarily through comments by Councilmembers Ulledalen, Bird and McCall) desired that the downtown and EBURD areas should be treated more flexibly concerning noise waivers and other noise restrictions to continue the encouragement of downtown events. Additionally, based upon several past internal staff committee meetings in 2017, anecdotal past experience and tracking of the areas of the City where complaints originated, this amendment is recommended because there is little impact to these two areas of the City. Although there are some residential areas in the CBD and EBURD the staff committee believed that the comparatively small number of residences would receive little impact with this amendment as most events occur near Skypoint or on or near Montana Avenue during the outdoor event season. This is consistent with the 2013 Council discussions on this specific issue. Additionally, Billings Police Captain R. D. Harper has noted that he does not receive complaints from the CBD or EBURD concerning noise from events. Rather, the complaints are from outside the CBD and EBURD areas where densely populated residential areas are often located adjacent to or mixed within commercial or retail areas. However, the Council may certainly amend previously Councils direction and eliminate this recommended exclusion as it believes appropriate.

As discussed with the Council previously, these proposed amendments will allow staff to more comprehensively assess each event that requires noise waivers and will assist the Council in deciding the appeal of any denials of waivers.

City Council may:

• Approve the Ordinance amendments to Sections 17-106 and 17-107,on Second Reading, or;
• Disapprove the proposed amendments, or
• Make further amendments to the specific noise ordinance sections involved here.

There is no financial impact to the City should the amendments be approved by the Council

Staff recommends that the City Council approve the noise ordinance amendments on Second Reading.