Charlottesville's gaggle of street musicians and performers will have to find somewhere else to roost late at night.
City Council passed an ordinance Monday banning loud noise in the Downtown Mall area from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday evenings and 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
The ordinance sets the noise limit at 75 decibels measured from 10 feet or more away. The 75 decibel limit is roughly equivalent to the noise emitted by an unamplified acoustic guitar and voice.
The ordinance passed 4-0, with Council member Maurice Cox absent, and will take effect immediately.
According to the ordinance, City Council believes "the noise generated by some of the shows, performances and other activities in the downtown business district has unreasonably disturbed the comfort, health, welfare ... peace and repose of people [downtown]."
"We felt that these are reasonable hours to reduce noise in a residential area," Charlottesville Mayor Blake Caravati said. "We hope the musicians will respect that fact, but if they're not, we have a law with some teeth in place."
Charlottesville Police will enforce the law with noise meters.
Violations of the ordinance are considered a class four misdemeanor carrying a maximum fine of $250 with no possibility of jail time.
The ordinance defines the borders of the Downtown Mall as Market Street in the north, Water Street on the south, Ridge-McIntyre Road on the west and Seventh Street South East on the east.
It applies to all public streets and walkways as well as private outdoor cafe spaces and other private space open to the public for commercial or recreational uses.
Downtown Mall merchants and residents have been agitating for a stricter noise law for nearly three years.
"We were having problems with musicians setting up their equipment and playing in front of restaurants and shops," said City spokesman Maurice Jones.
Caravati said Council organized a stroll in the Downtown Mall last year to investigate complaints about loud noise first-hand. This past summer Council conducted another walk through with meters to measure the amount of noise on the Downtown Mall.
The Council found that the musicians were "policing themselves fairly well," according to Caravati, but after receiving more complaints, Council recently decided to take further action.
Jones said the Downtown Mall is a popular area because of its mix of residential, cultural and commercial properties, such as restaurants and shops.
"The Council felt we needed to be mindful of the needs of residents regarding noise late at night," he said.
City Council member Kevin Lynch said he voted for the law because "there aren't that many musicians on the Downtown Mall after 10 on weekdays or midnight on weekends, anyway, and we aren't restricting any decibel level at all before those hours."
Lynch said he did not believe the strengthened law would curtail the vibrant cultural life of the Downtown Mall area.
"I wouldn't have voted for it if I thought that it would," he said.
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