Sheffield Lake Council tightens regulations on noise, trampolines in city

SHEFFIELD LAKE — Two ordinances aimed at making Sheffield Lake neighborhoods a little quieter and more visually appealing passed City Council on Tuesday. The first ordinance will tighten noise regulations, including lowering the maximum number of decibels that are allowed to be produced from a private property at night. Between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., residents are now permitted to make noise totaling 40 decibels, as opposed to the previous 50-decibel limit. During the daytime hours of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., the limit is 60 decibels. Councilman Rocky Radeff, 2nd Ward, said multiple residents made comments to Mayor Dennis Bring about excessive noise in their neighborhoods, prompting Council to review legislation. "With the decibels, it has to go on for five minutes straight," Radeff said. "... Once it's over five minutes, then it violates and we can write a ticket." But he said it is likely police officers will typically give a warning before ticketing residents for noise violations. Radeff said the city's noise disturbance policy is meant to have both subjective elements. Part of the subjective piece is the definition of a "noise disturbance" including any sound that "annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of ordinary sensitivities." The noise legislation passed 6-0, with one Council member absent from the meeting. Also at Tuesday's meeting, Council approved legislation that will include trampolines among other "accessory structures" that are only permitted to be kept in the backyard. Councilwomen Leanna Stark, 1st Ward, and Rosa Gee, at-large, were the only two who voted against the trampoline ordinance. Stark said she felt it was "crossing a line" of telling residents what they can and cannot do on their own property. She said some people use doorbell video cameras to monitor their kids while they use a trampoline in the front yard. "It's a safety issue. We have small lots and we keep telling people they need to shove stuff in their back yard," she said. Council President Richard Rosso, who originally asked Council to consider the ordinance, said he and Bring received an email regarding a resident who kept a broken trampoline in their front yard year-round. The trampoline gets picked up in the wind and blows around, Rosso said. Radeff said he suspects enforcement of the trampoline policy will be primarily complaint-driven. "I don't think we're going to go out and check every single yard," he said. Residents still will be permitted to seek a variance allowing them to keep a trampoline in their front yard. It is possible some back yards may not be large enough to fit a trampoline, for example. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.