Group Says Urban Noise Out Of Hand -- Sound Rights Says Everyone Is Suffering Ill Effects

With jumbo jets roaring over Georgetown, trains clanging and whistling through Interbay and those high-pitched leaf blowers RRR-RRR-RRRing all over town, finding a quiet spot in Seattle can be tough.

A newly formed citizens group, Sound Rights, is starting to raise a ruckus over the racket. With 75 members from neighborhoods all over the city, the panel is putting pressure on city officials to crack down on noise pollution - as many other major cities have done.

On the group's hit list are everything from barking dogs to rock bands, stereos and even wind chimes, not to mention heat pumps, personal watercraft and street sweepers.

In Georgetown alone, noise from Boeing 777s and other planes at Boeing Field is an around-the-clock problem, according to Sound Rights member Lorna Dove. That whole part of town "is under siege from this," she said.

Aside from the threat that persistent loud noise can pose to a person's hearing, Sound Rights warns of lost sleep, kids having difficulty concentrating on homework and stress from the constant aural distractions.

"There are real problems out there, and sometimes they end up in violence," said Len Mandelbaum of View Ridge, a law professor at Seattle University and adviser to Sound Rights.

For the past two months, Sound Rights has been lobbying City Council members, representatives from the Department of Construction and Land Use (DCLU) and the mayor's office to address the problem, perhaps with a commission of citizens and city officials.

Part of the problem is that different ordinances regulate different noises - each with its own set of exemptions.

"Things have come to a point where noise issues and regulation need to be defined," Mandelbaum said.

Trains, planes and leaf blowers, for example, are among the dozens of exemptions in city ordinances. In industrial and commercial zones, noise decibels can be higher, and levels of permitted noise change after 10 p.m. in residential areas.

For residents who live near industrial or commercial zones, noise violations are an ongoing battle, said David George, noise-abatement coordinator for the DCLU.

The DCLU investigates complaints that deal with commercial or industrial noise, such as air conditioners, chillers, heat pumps and street sweepers.

If the noise is louder than the permitted decibel level, the owner has a certain amount of time, usually 30 days, to fix the problem. If it's not fixed by then, the owner can be fined as much as $500 or sentenced to six months in jail - but most cases are settled before then.

"Most people want to cooperate and be good neighbors," George said.

Filing a noise complaint can be a frustrating experience. The city's hotline for noise complaints serves as a referral point for agencies. Barking dogs are handled by Animal Control; construction and commercial noises are handled by the DCLU; and rowdy bar or other noise is handled by the Police Department.

Seattle Police responded to 13,723 noise complaints in 1995. Many of the complaints should have been handled by Animal Control or the DCLU, but frustrated residents didn't know who else to call, said Cindy Granard, a Seattle Police officer.

When commissioned three years ago to perform a citywide study on noise, Mandelbaum found that Seattle has fewer noise laws and less enforcement than most large cities in the world.

Several California cities, for example, have banned unmuffled leaf blowers.

St. Petersburg has strict enforcement of regulations on loud automobiles - something residents in many communities, particularly Greenwood, want Seattle to adopt, according to Beth Pflug, Greenwood Neighborhood Center manager.

"Portland is a shade ahead of us," Mandelbaum said. "They've had stability in their program, and they also have a noise advisory council of acoustical engineering and business people."

Sound Rights also is preparing to host a daylong conference on International Sound Day in April. Along with videos and presentations by acoustic specialists, neighborhood representatives will discuss noise issues and strategies to combat noise problems.

"There are common elements to the noise issues citywide, and most noise is regulatable," Mandelbaum said.