The City Commission has tabled a proposed change to the city’s noise ordinance that would allow businesses to be open an extra hour.
The commission on Nov. 18 deferred an ordinance that would have allowed businesses close to residential areas to open at 7 a.m. and close at 6 p.m., rather than the current times of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Residents of the Northbrook neighborhood, which borders Wiles Road businesses in northwest Coral Springs, have complained for years that the noise ordinance is being violated, and that extending the hours would make it worse.
A task force set up after the Nov. 4 City Commission meeting will look at immediate and long-term solutions to the strife between the businesses and the residents. Both groups have accused the other of being less than neighborly.
The task force will examine businesses’ occupational licenses to make sure they are operating within the regulations for that area’s zoning. They will also consider constructing more physical barriers between the homes and businesses, and will look at reducing the zoning ordinance for the area to restrict the types of businesses that can operate there, said Senior Assistant City Manager Charles Schwabe.
Commissioners said at the Nov. 18 meeting that they want to see code enforcement stepped up in the area.
“It appears as though [code enforcement is) not being done extensively,” said Commissioner Alan Polin. “I think we need to do that to send a message to the businesses in this area that we mean business.”
Commissioner William Stradling said he visited the Northbrook neighborhood early one morning to see whether businesses were operating before 8 a.m. He said it was too noisy because there were businesses receiving deliveries before the time allowed by the ordinance, and that the commission might consider rezoning the area.
“I think the long term is that we’re going to have to be able to make a zoning change,” Stradling said. “I think that we, at this point, need to take some strong actions.”
But Vice Mayor Rhonda Calhoun, who also visited some of the business owners on Wiles Road, said that any decision should be fair for residents and business owners, and not limited to the small strip of Wiles Road.
“It’s very important that any resolution of this issue be done on a 50-50 basis,” Calhoun said. “If we are looking at enforcement issues . . . they need to be enforced throughout the city.”
