It was a noisy first week back on Grounds, according to Charlottesville Police, who issued 10 noise regulation citations during the weekend, eight of which were in the University area.
The Venable Neighborhood Association, a group that has been advocating for higher penalties for noise offenders in off-Grounds housing, has seen an improvement in noise levels recently, said Erica Goldfarb, the association’s president.
Excessive noise is not the association’s only concern. “It’s not just noise, there’s also a lot of fighting and destruction of property,” Goldfarb said.
Charlottesville city ordinance states that individuals cannot exceed 55 decibels between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in residential areas. City Council last month rejected a proposal that would have imposed stricter fines and heightened criminal charges for noise violations.
“We were disappointed because a lot of people have been working with the student groups for ten years trying to get this to happen,” Goldfarb said. “But we’re willing to let it go for the semester.”
Charlottesville Police received several calls during the first weekend of the semester between midnight and 4 a.m. Lieut. Ronnie Roberts said the police plan to take a harder stance against noise violators this semester.
Students need to be on board with recent efforts to improve noise levels in the community, and Goldfarb is confident they will.
“I hope they take these warnings seriously,” she said. “We don’t want them to have to pay fines, we just want them [to] behave better as neighbors.”