Boaters: Longboat Key is Considering Changes to Sound Ordinance in November
You need to be extra careful in and around Longboat Key, this fall... especially if you are on a boat.
Officials from Longboat Key are trying to respond to residents complaints about noise coming from boats near (Beer Can) Greer Island and Jewfish Key, off the north end of Longboat Key.
This week (9/27/21) the town held a workshop meeting, with town commissioners in which they discussed possibilities for noise enforcement, signage and enforcement issues.
Town commissioners are set to hold their first reading of a permanent ordinance on November 1st, 2021. .
This past summer, Longboat Key issued five noise-related citations with fines totaling $1,850.
The town’s emergency related noise resolution allows Longboat Key the authority to issue sound-noise citations as follows:
- $100 for the first offense
- $250 for the second offense
- $500 for the third and each subsequent offense.
Longboat Key says that they will use other municipalities’ sound ordinances as a model to update its own.
The town is proposing the following maximum allowable sound levels:
- Residential zone, public space or institutional zone:
- 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.: 66 dBA
- 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.: 60 dBA
- Commercial zone:
- 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.: 72 dBA
- 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.: 65 dBA
The Longboat Key Police Department — which has two boats for enforcement — is coordinating with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office to address excessive noise near Jewfish Key and (Beer Can) Greer Island.
Longboat Key is also considering ways it could add signage throughout the north end and looking into the possibility of restricting motorized boats east of the Longboat Pass Bridge.
Get all the details on their current laws here: https://www.longboatkey.org/
Photo: Getty Images