Looking at Windham Noise Law Lucidity

By Michael Ryan

WINDHAM - There have been occasions when complaints were received in the town of Windham about howling coyotes and cows mooing too loudly.

Government leaders couldn’t do much about it, minus a Noise Law, and even if legislation did exist, how do you tell coyotes to hush?

A much simpler situation was presented to council members, at a meeting last week, when County Route 10 resident James McCabe asked for clarification of the rules that have since been created.

“I’m not here to complain,” McCabe said. “I understand the law is here to protect the community, but I have some confusion about how the Noise Ordinance is working.

“I am an Average Joe so I would assume when it says lights out at 10 p.m., it means lights out at 10 p.m.,” McCabe said.

“But if you read on, there are separate paragraphs that make it okay for the lights to stay on, and it makes more sense, but an Average Joe like me wouldn’t know that,” McCabe said.

Specific reference was made to the law’s section on Unreasonable Noise which is defined as, “any excessive or unusually loud sound or any sound which either annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of a reasonable person of normal sensitivities.”

The section continues, “any noise which occurs continually for more than 15 minutes or intermittently for more than 30 minutes with a sound level reading above 60 [decibels] as measured from the property line boundary shall be considered prima facie evidence of an unreasonable noise.”

It is true the rules apply between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., however, “it makes sense that if people are having a party and the noise is over 60 decibels, they can clear it up and the party can go on,” McCabe said.

“But it’s confusing when you read the law, the way it is written. Why not say it all in one sentence?” McCabe suggested.

While acknowledging there could be language “flaws” in the law, which was initially written in 2022, town supervisor Thomas Hoyt said changes can be enacted and have, in fact, already occurred, in 2024.

“If people just read the top part and don’t read a few more paragraphs down, how do we convey to them to read further, so they can totally understand the law?” Hoyt said.

When the law was originally penned, it was sent to the State for a thorough review of the wording, etc. “Could a section be moved up here or down there?” Hoyt said.

“Maybe there is a flaw here and a flaw there, but we have also said from the beginning this is a law in progress,” Hoyt said.

“We appreciate any input on the pros and cons. We will take a look at this and if it needs to be more readable, we can do that,” Hoyt said, noting public hearings would take place prior to any modifications.

Hoyt pointed out the original law contained language setting the acceptable decibel level at 75, lowering it after concerns were raised about the limit being too high, particularly when the stars are out.

“We know that living in a rural area, hearing noise at midnight when it’s very quiet is very different compared to two o’clock in the afternoon when the birds are chirping and cars are going by,” Hoyt said.

Some issues have arisen related to short term rentals and parties being raucous well beyond the legal deadline.

“Let’s say we have an Airbnb and the noise doesn’t last more than fifteen minutes, but if it’s two in the morning, it’s going to wake you up anyway,” McCabe said.

“And maybe there is a loud party and they are warned and they fix it, but then the next weekend there are different people and the problem is the same all over again,” McCabe said.

“I don’t want to call the cops. I want to be a good neighbor. What is the protocol for this kind of thing?” McCabe said.

In the recent past, there was preliminary talk about possibly writing a short term rental law in Windham, discussions that quickly resulted in stiff resistance begin expressed by many short term rental owners.

A successful alternative was arrived at, Hoyt said, noting the Windham Area Stakeholders Association stepped up to try quelling any storms.

“We have formed a good relationship with the Association,” Hoyt said. “If a person who rents a home isn’t being a good neighbor, the Association will reach out to the owner of that property.

“They will tell them ‘You are giving the rest of us a bad name,’ and we have been very fortunate. We can call the president of the Association and say there is a problem,” Hoyt said.

“Before we had this arrangement, we maybe had at least one complaint every weekend. Since they have started to police themselves, we have maybe two complaints at year,” Hoyt said.