FENWICK ISLAND, DE - Town leaders on Fenwick Island are proposing changes to the town's noise ordinance. The proposal comes after multiple complaints from neighbors, and suggestions from local law enforcement, according to town officials.
WBOC spoke with Fenwick Island's mayor, Natalie Magdeburger, who said the current code needs some updates.
One of the proposed changes is moving the start of town quiet hours from midnight back to 10 pm. Magdeburger said multiple residents have requested the change.
"We're known as a very quiet resort," Magdeburger said. "At 10 o'clock our businesses shut down, and at 10 o'clock a lot of our town would like to shut down too."
The mayor also said the proposed changes would help clear up any confusion regarding enforcement left by the current code.
"The way our ordinance was written it was sort of whatever was considered reasonable under the circumstances," Magdeburgder said. "And, you know, what is 'reasonable'?"
Another potential amendment would define 'reasonable' as 65 decibels during daytime hours, and 55 decibels starting during quiet hours. If an officer were called to a noise complaint, two back-to-back readings would be taken with a decibel reader on the individual's property line.
WBOC spoke with multiple neighbors on Tuesday. Many of them, like Carol Zonko, said the town already keeps pretty quiet.
"I think it would be a great thing to do," Zonko said. "But there's never been an issue here for me."
Another neighbor, Alan Eidsmore, said he thinks enforcing the potential updates on rentals may prove challenging.
"There's probably chances that some renters might like to party a little bit and extend that into the early morning hours," Eismore said. "Whether you have an ordinance or not it's probably still going to happen."
No decision has been made on the potential ordinance change yet. The mayor said the proposal will go before the town council at their meeting on December 6th.
