Objective Standards Sought
To Control Noise Downtown
By PATRICK WAGER • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN – The village trustees this evening directed Zoning Enforcement Officer Jane Gentile to explore noise ordinances in other communities for objective standards that might be applied here.
“We need some guidelines,” said Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh Kuch, “something that is enforceable and has some teeth to it.”
The Village Board has been discussing noise ordinances for some time as a result of bands performing downtown during the summer months, a new development in recent years.
The consensus seems to be that the trustees don’t want to be too restrictive, but to find a better balance. “I don’t know what that it is,” Trustee Richard Sternberg said this evening. “But I know it when I hear it.”
In other business:
- Liz Callahan, Historic Preservation & Architectural Review Board chair, reported H-PARB is reviving annual Historic Presentations Awards, and is seeking 10 properties to honor at an awards ceremony at 5 p.m. March 25 in the Village Hall ballroom.
- Delivery-truck unloading regulations in designated zones were amended to Monday-Saturday 6 a.m.-noon, and to shorten the loading zone in front of the former CVS to create four additional parking spaces.
Noise and music are the sounds of people enjoying the place we call home. Signs we are alive and well or getting through the winter.
Without it, we become just another ‘Quiet Place’.
Our community is aging and at the same time our community is working hard to attract new people to keep the town alive. We have a massive mental health crisis and a significant age disparity locally, and music, social events, etc, year round, are important aspects to improving mental health and attracting and retaining new neighbors and coworkers.
I’d like to see more diverse boards in town so we can assure we have proper representation about the future of our community.
This is a waste of our resources and board time. While we appreciate the board considering complaints and trying to address them, we have plenty of valid and important concerns to address. Like the semi- and fully abandoned homes in town that non residents are sitting on like slum lords, how they are contributing to our opioid crisis, and so on.