If you’re a fan of cigarettes, drying your laundry where other people can see it or making noise after dark, the Village of Great Neck may not be for you.
The villages board passed the latest in a series of quality-of-life measures designed to prohibit behaviors potentially offensive to other residents at Tuesday night’s meeting, broadening the scope of its restrictions on night-time noise.
The law, which comes after the village banned smoking along Middle Neck Road and hanging clotheslines in front yards, gives residents greater legal backing in efforts to quiet their more nocturnal neighbors.
The law prohibits “loud and unnecessary” noise between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. to 9 a.m. on weekends and holidays.
Unlike the village’s other noise regulations, which focus on specific noise sources and volume levels, the new law leaves room for interpretation. It cracks down not on decibel levels but on noise that “annoys or disturbs the quiet, comfort, or repose” of a “reasonable person of normal sensitivities.”
The new regulations also extend beyond the night-time hours. Any noise that is “detrimental to the life or health” of a reasonable person is also prohibited.
The village’s pre-existing regulations cover many of the normal bases – loud music, unmuffled engines, night-time construction – but also contain some more unique restrictions, ranging from the quirky to the archaic.
Those seeking to blow a steam whistle better have a good reason for doing so – such noise is prohibited except as notice to stop or begin work, or as a warning of danger.
Any prospective street vendors best take care also, as “the shouting and crying of peddlers, hawkers and vendors” may not disturb residents’ peace and quiet.
And as may be expected radios must be kept at reasonable volumes at night and in the early morning. But even vintage music listeners are required to be considerate – phonographs are also singled out in the noise regulations.
Reach reporter Dan Glaun by e-mail at dglaun@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x203. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
