Quiet hours in West University Place were a topic of discussion during the city council’s special session last night.
City Manager Michael Ross said over 10 people have complained about leaf blowers starting up too early in West U. Council discussed whether or not quiet hours need to be looked at or changed. They plan on putting the issue on a future agenda.
Currently, quiet hours are Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
One resident told council that leaf blowers working at 10:30 a.m. on a Saturday are too early.
“They fire up at 7 a.m. and go steady all morning,” Mayor Bob Kelly said.
Councilmember Steven Segal suggested quiet hours be changed to Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“I’d like to see it really discussed,” Segal said. “If we don’t feel it’s popular, we’re not going to do it.”
Councilmember George Boehme said every council goes over and over quiet hours. He asked his council members if this was really something they wanted the police to enforce.
“I’m not going to follow any sort of direction on this,” Boehme said. “I really have no sympathy for people waking up at 10:30 on Saturday.”
Council also discussed the protection of trees in the right-of-way during its special session.
Segal said he would like council to look at the language regarding the city’s tree protection ordinance. The building and standards commission is going to look into the tree ordinance to see if they have a recommendation.
Residents can get a permit from the city to cut down a tree if it causes an impediment on the property.
Boehme said he has never heard of someone cutting down a tree for no reason.
“A tree has value and I don’t think people do it unless there’s an overwhelming need to,” Boehme said. “Going and chopping down mature trees is like ripping up $100 bills. You just don’t do it.”
City attorney Alan Petrov brought up the issue of regulating door-to-door soliciting and advertising during council’s special session.
West U has an ordinance banning door-to-door soliciting and advertising.
Petrov said he’s seen several cases where the line for commercial speech is not clear. He said some advertisers have implied that they would take legal action against the city because commercial speech is a constitutional right.
Advertisers think that the government should not put judgment on what a homeowner should or shouldn’t receive.
Petrov said the city needs to have a way of updating their no soliciting list, so that if people move, new homeowners will be able to get on the list.
Councilmember Bob Fry said he wanted to have an executive session to discuss the city’s ordinance on soliciting.
During council’s regular session, Henry Stelzig, a resident who lives in the 4200 block of Byron, addressed council regarding parking on both sides of Byron.
The block where Stelzig lives is a two-way street with parking on both sides. When there is an event going on at Colonial Park Pool, parking is an issue.
Stelzig said his car was sideswiped during an event at Colonial Park Pool on June 27.
He said he would like council to take action and limit parking to one side of the street.
The next city council meeting is July 12 and will be held in the council chambers.
@George, it’s not necessarily “waking up at 10:30 AM”, it’s being able to sit outside on your porch or patio on a nice morning and enjoy the peace and quiet of your property without feeling you’re center stage at a World Cup soccer game.
I’ve lived in W U for 23 years and the prevalence of this noise during daytime hours has become more intolerable with each passing year.
With 20 houses on the average street, plus another 10 behind, you’re looking at the better part of 30 incidents a week within that area and time frame, or almost three, full, 8 hour days a week of gas powered leaf blower and weed eater noise.
The hours either need to be shortened, or, better yet, the devices need to be limited to those with a reasonable decibel output.
I think another approach might be to require contractors to use electric powered edgers and blowers. Would cut a lot of pollution – both noise and hydrocarbon emissions.
George, maybe the person waking at 10:30 was a physician on call all night.
Another example of government trampling all over us. For real quiet hours we should make City Council be quiet and have West U residents stop whining and asking govt to do everything for them. What about all the noise from the West U Country Club (aka Colonial Pool)? That bothers me.
Given the actions and thinking of Big Brothers Kelly and Segal what else will they try to legislate? They probably will be out waving the US flag for 4th of July when they really should be waving the flag of the old USSR!
West U City Council would want you arrested if you chopped down a tree in your yard, and used a leaf blower to clean up the leaves. Life in jail if you did it during quiet hours.
When I lived in West U, my problem wasn’t the noise of leaf blowers as much as the stuff they blew into the air for me to breathe. I liked to walk, but always found myself trying to find a street with no leaf blowers. Also, be kind to the mayor, city council, city manager, police, fire fighters and others at city hall. I live in Houston now and really miss the small-town handholding.
Ahh, leaf blowers. The hours are fine, though I agree it would be nice to have a quiet Saturday morning. It’s the lack of enforcement that is one issue. It’t the little things that make a difference in a neighborhood. The police, with their visibility do a great job of keep our city safe, I just wish that while they are cruising around looking for people outsiders breaking our laws, that more attention would be paid to the ordinances that are on the books that are meant to keep West U, West U. For example:
1. Enforce the quiet hours…talk to the yard crews and our neighbors when things are being done outside hours.
2. It’s minor, but let’s remind people that they should not block the sidewalks that we want people to use and kids to enjoy.
On other areas…
3. Can’t we wait to put the trash out until after 6pm the night before.
4. How about using the city’s automatic calling system to remind us when there will be city holidays and no garbage or recycling pickup.
5. Split the city up into zones for the yard companies where they can only work in certain areas on certain days. That way we don’t have to have yard crews on our streets every day of the week.
And oh, here’s one of my pet peeves…the tree protection ordinance.
I constantly see trees being cut down or after the fact that look like they are perfectly healthy and not even in an inconvenient location. A good example the is the 3ft diameter oaks on Southwestern and West Point that were cut down this week. Do they have a tree removal permit, who knows, so there is no way for police or concerned neighbors to know if the removal was approved or not. If we value trees in this city, how about the simple step of requiring large signs to be put up ahead of time to remain during and for a week after.