HOWELL – A resident of Castle Court who has been dealing with noise produced by a movie theater that operates near his home has asked the Howell Township Council to revise the municipal noise ordinance.
The noise issue has been dogging resident Marc Parisi for more than one year.
In September, the Zoning Board of Adjustment upheld a determination by Howell’s zoning officer that the Xscape movie theater on Route 9 is not causing a noise disturbance at Parisi’s home, although noise from the theater is audible there. Parisi is appealing the zoning board’s decision in state Superior Court.
In October, council members adopted a new noise ordinance in a move to conform to the state Department of Environmental Protection’s model noise ordinance. Parisi expressed support for that ordinance.
During a March 6 council meeting, Parisi spoke to the town’s elected officials. He said there was a specific prohibition in the noise ordinance that was in place prior to October “regarding the operation of any sound production device that could make noise that can be heard across real property boundaries between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.” He said that previous ordinance also had a provision for the abatement of noise nuisances.
“That (previous ordinance) basically said any violation of the ordinance at that time would be declared a public nuisance,” Parisi said.
Parisi said the ordinance that was adopted in October accounts for measurable noise, but not what he called plainly audible noise.
The resident asked the council to revise the current law to account for “nuisance noise” in a move “to further protect citizens’ health, welfare and the peaceful enjoyment of their property. It is difficult to imagine there would be any opposition to introducing and adopting this nuisance ordinance when the township had the same prohibitions in place for nearly 40 years.”
Parisi said Howell does not have a shared services agreement with Monmouth County regarding municipal noise ordinance enforcement.
“So because of (the issue with the theater), I contacted the health department and they told me there is no shared services agreement between the township and the county for the enforcement of a municipal noise ordinance, which is required by (the county) to enforce the municipal noise ordinance,” Parisi said.
“There is a municipal ordinance in effect and the township has no ability to enforce it because they have no one trained, nor do they have an agreement in place with the county,” he said.
Council members opted not to discuss or comment on the matter because Parisi is involved in litigation regarding the issue.
