McHenry County Board adopts noise ordinance

The McHenry County Board has passed a noise ordinance giving the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office power to give out tickets for nuisance violations in unincorporated parts of the county.

During the board’s Oct. 16 meeting, members voted, 12-8, to push the ordinance into effect Dec. 15.

Proponents contend that the new code decriminalizes noise violations and gives the sheriff’s office a new tool to abate the source of neighborhood disputes. Opponents have said it is too vague.

“Rather than using only a criminal code against offenders, as the sheriff now has to use, we, the County Board, have before us a simple ordinance violation code, which allows our deputies to evaluate the situation and the issue, and then issue a warning or violation ticket, or neither,” District 6 representative Mary McCann said.

The new code defines a nuisance as an unreasonable noise that alarms a neighbor and provokes “a breach of the peace.”

Sheriff’s deputies now have the power to determine whether an unincorporated resident has violated the noise ordinance. Agricultural noises and the noises from events on behalf of public agencies are not up for scrutiny.

A fine upon conviction for the first offense is $100. For subsequent offenses, violators can be fined up to $1,000.

District 3 representative Chris Christensen said the ordinance is too vague.

“Instead of promoting and working with the tools we already have, our solution is to pass a vague, overly broad noise ordinance,” Christensen said. “What’s the threshold of too loud? The ordinance is unclear.”

District 2 representative John Reinert said the ordinance is “another step toward bigger government.”

Board members Jim Heisler, Robert Nowak, Kay Bates, Jim Kearns, Michael Skala, Joe Gottemoller, Donna Kurtz, Larry Smith, Paula Yensen, McCann, Spoerl and Michael Walkup voted in favor of the ordinance.

Chuck Wheeler, Jeff Thorsen, Yvonne Barnes, John Jung Jr., Reinert, Tom Wilbeck, Michael Rein and John Hammerand voted against it.