Shhhh! Cd'A addresses NOISE

COEUR d’ALENE — A city ordinance that once targeted blue-collar noise in working class Coeur d’Alene neighborhoods is being amended to reflect the changing times.

Coeur d’Alene’s motor vehicle noise ordinance, which once specifically prohibited truck engine brakes, is being amended to include tricked-out cars, pickup trucks and motorcycles that spew smoke and noise just for the fun of it.

Downtown noise is nothing new, council members said Monday at a committee meeting to address the rule change. The excessive street noise from revving vehicles has tripped burglar alarms in downtown businesses, and the tempers of property owners, tenants and tourists trying to enjoy a quiet evening outside.

The complaints are stacking up.

“This didn’t come up yesterday or in the last few weeks,” General Services Committee member Kiki Miller said. “It’s been an ongoing situation.”

In an effort to stem the noise and its byproducts, council members hope to adopt at next week’s city council meeting a more stringent noise ordinance that targets the high-octane revving of cars, trucks and motorcycles, and reins in coal rollers — the faddish diesel systems that blow copious amounts of black smoke.

“That would be included,” City Attorney Mike Gridley said.

The original ordinance targeted the Jacob’s brakes — also called Jake brakes — of logging trucks that produce an intense rumbling noise. The sound was once a staple in neighborhoods on routes used by loaded logging trucks heading to the city’s mills.

“It prohibited compression brakes, Jake brakes ... of trucks, like when they’re coming down a hill,” Gridley said.

Within the past decade as summer traffic has increased — especially downtown — and lumber mills in the city have disappeared along with logging truck traffic, the complaints have shifted to leisure craft.

“We do receive complaints on a very regular basis,” Coeur d’Alene Chief of Police Lee White said. “They start in the spring and increase through the summer and then taper off.”

Vehicles in city lots or at traffic lights pumping loud music, revving engines, or speeding away from intersections make up the bulk of the grievances, White said.

“It’s not designed to punish people driving down the road with a loud vehicle,” he said. “It’s for people who are purposely making a loud noise or drawing attention to themselves.”

Coal rollers, an aftermarket add-on often installed in diesel trucks to spew clouds of sooty smoke, will fall under the new ordinance, as will beater cars and trucks that burn a lot of oil.

“I was behind a car last night that looked like it was on fire,” White said. “It was blowing so much smoke, just a random car on its last leg.

“This would allow us to address those.”

A contingent of council members heard Monday’s presentation, which will be brought before the full council next week for a vote or further discussion.