Music ordinance revisited: slightly off key

I want to address a few editorial oversights in the Sonoran News Feb. 28 story titled, “Music Ordinance Revisited.”  

The story suggests “the proposed ordinance is capping the allowable music levels at 70 decibels” as if this is a new standard, when in fact 70db has been the standard for some time now, The only recent change has been the raising of the standard from 65db up to 70 db a few years ago, thus in favor of the bar owners.

The citizens did not “opt” to exclude the bar owners in the meetings held over the past months, as we had nothing to do with the attendee list. We were invited to attend the meetings by the town manager. The town manager attested to this in an open council meeting that he had invited us to his staff meeting, which included the town marshal, the town planning director, three town attorneys, a local sound expert, and a town councilman.

The citizens did not “craft” the revised ordinance, this was done by town staff with some of our suggestions, but mostly it was crafted with the reality and legality of the professionals on the town staff.

The citizens who contributed suggestions to the modest revisions to the existing ordinance to make it enforceable are not “anti‑business” or “anti‑music,” nor are we a small group of “radical folks,” but rather we are a normal group of citizens who are willing to stand up to try to protect all of our quiet lifestyles here in Cave Creek regardless of where we live. Music/sound travels far and wide here in the desert impacting many of us.

Some people just do not follow the news, as some do not seem to realize that they would not be “criminally cited if a citizen complained” as the ordinance was changed from a criminal action to a civil action some time ago, and realistically (we are told) even that civil action would be taken only after several verbal warnings. Some people also fail to realize that outdoor music without a Special Use Permit (SUP) has not been legal in Cave Creek for a long long time. 

We moved here to Cave Creek knowing and enjoying the bars, entertainment and music in the town core and knowing we could reasonably expect some sound radiation from it. We also moved here knowing Cave Creek had a sound ordinance with sound limits. What we did not know was that the existing ordinance was not enforceable.

Fundamentally, all this new ordinance does is make the old ordinance enforceable.

Now, please let’s try it. If it does not work, we can revisit it again as we have before.

Bob Moore
Cave Creek