Council approves noise ordinance amendment

The Kalispell municipal code outlining noise violations will soon ring a little more clearly.

Kalispell City Council on Monday unanimously approved an amendment to the local noise ordinance, primarily aligning the municipal law with its state counterpart.

The original ordinance, disturbing the peace, lists violations as instances of loud noise, obscene language, threats, quarreling, or some other disruption to a peaceful neighborhood as cause for a citation. The amended ordinance, disorderly conduct, is more specific and includes quarreling, unreasonably impeding traffic, disturbing a public meeting, falsely reporting a fire and other examples.

The ordinance now reflects the current disorderly conduct statute at the state level, which lists several identical examples, such as unreasonably blocking the entrance and exit to a public or private space.

“It gives a more definite explanation,” Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset said. “The old code was antiquated and needed to be updated. But the change is nothing earth-shattering.”

Nasset said the violation was usually brought against late-night disruptions such as someone revving an engine. Most of the time, Nasset said, his officers mitigate the situation before a citation is issued.

A Kalispell resident earlier this year brought the original ordinance to council, asking that time limits be applied to construction activity to reduce noise in the early morning. The amendment approved Monday does not limit when work can begin. Council members noted the long winters with late sunrises that would make it difficult for construction crews to adjust throughout the year.

Council member Rod Kuntz said that without time limits applied to the ordinance, construction work and other non-offending instances would be allowed without consequence.

“I think we’ve made the concession by placing it out there [without a timeframe for when loud noises become a violation] so we shouldn’t have to interfere with these people doing their jobs,” he said.

Kuntz asked Nasset if he was comfortable with the new language, which he thought was still somewhat vague.

“It’s interesting because it’s still subjective,” Nasset said. “There’s always going to be that human factor. I know our officers make great decisions and they are comfortable with it.”

The council will vote on the second reading of the amendment later this month.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, the council accepted a $400,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to assist Kalispell business owners with property redevelopment projects.

The grant funding available to business owners is earmarked for projects involving hazardous materials, such as asbestos-laced insulation or lead-based paint. The grant will be used to fund a phase one environmental assessment to determine past property use and ownership, and if necessary, a phase two assessment which extracts samples from the property to determine if remediation efforts will be required.

The council will meet for a work session on Oct. 10 at City Hall, 201 First Ave. East.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.