Chattanooga is one vote away from a new regulation to squelch off-road vehicle noise on residential property.
On Tuesday, the Chattanooga City Council takes its second and final vote on an ordinance that prohibits people from operating all-terrain vehicles, dune buggies or other utility vehicles that create a sound level of more than 70 decibels – about the same as a dishwasher – as measured from a residential property boundary. Up close, a lawnmower generates about 90 decibels.
Off-road enthusiasts have wasted no time voicing opposition to the new sound rules after the city council voted 9-0 in favor of them last week.
“They need to do more research and tweak it to make it effective instead of making an ordinance with unintended consequences,” Hixson resident and ATV owner Lynn Cowan said Friday. “I think they need to fix the problem they have and not create bigger problems. This is as poorly worded as anything I’ve ever seen.”
Councilman Chip Henderson, who sponsored the regulation, has said the need for the ordinance arises from instances in which people have essentially turned their backyards into dirt tracks in residential neighborhoods in Lookout Valley and Hixson. He has described the ordinance as a compromise.