Chapel Hill's noise ordinance and student parties, 1939–1991

By September 22, 1939 the Chapel Hill board of aldermen had passed an ordinance against unnecessary noise, including a ban on sounding the horn of any vehicle not in motion except as a danger signal; the Chapel Hill Weekly welcomed it and asked the police to enforce it.

By October 1968 the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen had passed an anti-noise ordinance to protect the "repose" of the town's citizens, and the police and the Interfraternity Council said they would crack down on fraternity houses playing jukeboxes late at night. On March 6, 1972, on a motion by Alderman Alice Welsh, who said periods of quiet in Chapel Hill were getting shorter, the board formed a committee to study noise; Alderman Ross Scroggs blamed loud mufflers and outdoor amplified rock music. That summer, while students were away, the aldermen enacted an anti-noise code that separated necessary noises, such as sirens, parades and construction, from unnecessary ones, such as boisterous parties, combos playing outdoors and loud radios, judged by whether two people could talk at the next property line. After residents complained in September about fraternity bands and a Franklin Street bar, the aldermen unanimously adopted a revised code on November 6, presented by Larry Young, legal advisor to the police department, who called it the most comprehensive in the state. It barred bands and other amplified sound without a town permit and took as evidence complaints from two households, or from an officer and one resident; enforcement began November 17, with free permits at the police desk that could be revoked after complaints. When students and fraternities protested a police rule that hired bands play only in enclosed buildings, the aldermen clarified on October 15, 1973 that every band still needed a permit but none would be refused, and that bands had to be indoors after 8 p.m., with no curfew.

On October 24, 1977, at the request of Alderman Gerry Cohen and student leaders, the aldermen unanimously put off Alderman Marvin Silver's amendment to enforce the ordinance with sound-level meters, with limits of 75 decibels by day and 65 at night. Mayor James Wallace then named a town-gown committee, chaired by Silver, to study the change, after student leaders objected to the complaint-based rules for parties. On April 10, 1978 the aldermen adopted a noise-control ordinance that set limits of 55 decibels at night and 65 by day, measured 75 feet from the source, with louder events allowed by police permit. It replaced a rule under which police could close a party after two complaints, and it took effect April 24, when the aldermen added guidelines for the police chief to follow in granting permits.

In late August 1980, as noise complaints ran about 30 percent above the year before, police closed three or four fraternity parties for exceeding the town's limits and arrested one student. On September 2 Mayor Joe Nassif, Police Chief Herman Stone and council members met fraternity leaders; Stone required a fraternity officer to be present at every party and promised to hold bands to their permitted hours, while the council reviewed the 1978 ordinance. On October 7 student and town representatives agreed to skip an interim ordinance and work toward permanent changes. After nine months of debate with students, the Town Council passed an amended ordinance on May 26, 1981, effective July 1. It set limits of 50 decibels at night and 60 by day, measured at the property line, allowed louder parties only on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights with permits, and suspended a violator's permits for six months. Police revoked Phi Gamma Delta's permit privileges from October 22, 1981, to April 22, 1982, after complaints about an amplified morning mixer at its house on West Cameron Avenue; the Daily Tar Heel said it was the first permit holder to lose its privileges under the new ordinance.

On February 24, 1986 the Town Council voted unanimously to hold off on a noise permit for Pi Kappa Phi's tenth Burnout party, a benefit for the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center, until police reported on cars parked along NC 54 at past parties. On February 9, 1987, at Mayor James Wallace's urging, the council voted unanimously to cut the loudest permitted sound level from 85 to 75 decibels and to end permitted amplified music at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays instead of 1 a.m. Neighbors of the Delta Upsilon fraternity had filed a petition with 64 signatures, while fraternity leaders and the owner of He's Not Here said the change would end outdoor bands; the Daily Tar Heel reported that Wallace called fraternities "trash piles" and public nuisances, a remark he qualified the next day. On March 9 the council voted 5 to 3 to deny Pi Kappa Phi a special permit for amplified outdoor music before 5 p.m. at its 11th annual Burnout, at its house on Finley Golf Course Road. Interim Police Chief Arnold Gold cited neighbors' complaints of litter, vandalism and parking, and council member Jonathan Howes said the town wanted such events moved to the center of campus; Howes, Bill Thorpe and Nancy Preston would have granted the permit for one last year at the site. Two weeks later the council unanimously gave Henderson Residence College a noise permit and a street closing for Springfest, an all-campus concert that had drawn more than 5,000 people in 1986, after the organizers accepted police conditions that included hourly sound readings under the new 75-decibel limit; Howes called it the kind of event the council liked to see. On April 10 Pi Kappa Phi held a smaller party indoors in place of its Burnout; 400 to 500 people came, against 3,000 to 4,000 the year before, and T-shirt sales raised about $1,000 for the burn center, against about $6,000 in 1986.

On April 13, 1987 Wallace presented a noise ordinance amendment written by Student Body President Brian Bailey, and the council voted 5 to 4 to enact it after moving the weekend cutoff from Bailey's 2 a.m. to 1 a.m.; it allowed 80 decibels at permitted campus events and 70 decibels without a permit Thursday through Saturday. Because the vote fell short of two-thirds, the amendment needed a second vote; on April 29, at the request of Bailey and Vice Chancellor Donald Boulton, the council voted unanimously to table it, leaving the February ordinance in force, and to form a committee of students, faculty and residents to study noise. A revision committee chaired by assistant town manager Ron Secrist first met on August 19. On September 3 members of Student Government staged a skit in front of Davis Library against the February ordinance and urged students to register to vote in Orange County. On February 22, 1988, on Town Manager David Taylor's recommendation, the council voted unanimously to exempt Pi Kappa Phi's outdoor Burnout from the 1987 ordinance, after the fraternity worked out parking, security and other plans with town staff and won the support of the Oaks and Highland Woods homeowners associations. On March 6, 1989 the council temporarily let three spring student events, Pi Kappa Phi's Burnout, Henderson Residence College's Springfest and Ehringhaus's Carolina Beach Blast, reach 75 decibels instead of the usual 60; Mayor Jonathan Howes said police, students and neighbors had found the level reasonable. That October, after a fraternity party on Pritchard Avenue ran past 3 a.m., the Pritchard and Church Street Residents Group asked the council to lower the noise limit from 75 to 50 decibels, end noise permits and stop bands at 9 p.m., and threatened a civil suit if nothing was done in a month. Taylor later recommended 70 decibels outside the campus zone, and the council put off debate until students were back from fall break. On November 13 it voted unanimously to reconstitute the Noise Ordinance Monitoring Committee rather than act on the neighbors' demands or on the manager's proposal; student liaison Bill Hildebolt presented a petition against any change that he said about 1,000 residents had signed. On June 25, 1990 the council adopted amendments from its noise ordinance committee that made yelling and singing on the streets at night, loud talk at night parties, loud stereos, late garbage loading and continuous horn-blowing nuisances; police could cite violators who kept on after a verbal warning, the maximum fine was $50, and running disputes between neighbors went to the Orange County Dispute Settlement Center. Decibel limits and permit hours were left for the committee to take up after students returned in the fall. On May 28, 1991 the council voted 6 to 1, with Joyce Brown opposed, to amend the ordinance as its Noise Monitoring Committee had recommended, lowering the maximum sound level allowed with a permit from 75 to 70 decibels, letting the town manager issue permits on any day, requiring that neighbors be told of permits and limiting security alarms to 20 minutes. The vote replaced a 65-decibel version that had passed only 5 to 2 on May 13, short of the six votes the council required, and Mayor Jonathan Howes said he had been wrong to back the lower limit.