My View and That's How I See It — Couldn't We All Do With A Little Less Noise?

Recently I was awakened on a Saturday morning to the whirring of a lawn mower. Annoyed, I rolled over and looked at the clock, which read 9:05 a.m. Nothing to do about it, I knew, since it was 5 minutes past the local noise-ordinance-regulated "quiet time." I tried to bury my head under the pillow, and then, recognizing that I was not going to get the late sleep I wanted, I arose to make my morning coffee.

By the time I got my act together and went to sit on my back deck, it was well after 10 a.m. and there was still a whirring sound coming from my neighbor’s yard. I was pleasantly surprised when the disturbance in the back yard ended, looking forward to reading the paper in peace or relative peace due to the racing cars on the street out front. No more than five minutes passed before the whirring started in the front yard. Great, I thought, and continued reading, assuming it couldn’t possibly take too much time to cut the grass out front. 

After completing some work around the house, I continued to hear various whirring power reverberations from next door. When I returned to my deck to eat lunch, the noise had returned to the back yard. This time, it was some sort of hand-held lawn equipment cutting or trimming something. My knowledge of all lawn equipment is, to be sure, lacking. My lawn will never look like it came from a Dr. Seuss book.  More likely it will be compared with “Where the Wild Things Are,” but although I didn’t know exactly what type of tool was being used, I did know that it was making a lot of noise.

The rest of my afternoon was filled with similar clamor. Once something was completed in the back yard, something else was started out front, and when I went to read in my hammock in the late afternoon, there was still noise to greet me, this time involving some sort of power-water tool cleaning something. Surely, they were within their rights to complete any and all lawn/wood improvements, but I began to wonder about the rights of people who would like a little peace and quiet on a weekend afternoon.

The Montgomery County Noise Control Ordinance (Chapter 31B of the County Code) states the following:

The County Council finds that excessive noise harms public health and welfare and impairs enjoyment of property. The intent of this Chapter is to control noise sources to protect public health and welfare and to allow the peaceful enjoyment of property.

The code further explains that the Noise Control Ordinance is in effect during nighttime hours of 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weekdays and 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. on weekends. Although this protects the average citizen from being awakened at 3 a.m. by a leaf blower (and there is a great deal of information about leaf blowers in this ordinance), what protection does it provide from continuous noise? Don’t I, as a law-abiding tax payer, have any rights to sit in my back yard and not hear noise during daytime hours? How can I not be impaired of “enjoyment of property” when there is continuous noise surrounding me?

Although I am not in favor of government involvement in every aspect of our lives, I do think a noise ordinance needs to examine more than just quiet times, because continuous noise throughout any given day is just a nuisance. Maybe, rather than another ordinance, all neighbors just need to stop and think about what noise they are making and make a little less of it. This may not be your opinion, but it’s my view, and that’s how I see it.