New noise ordinance in Town of Niagara

Municipalities meeting to address flooding

By Benjamin Joe

Senior Contributing Writer

The Town of Niagara will be a little quieter as police officers will be equipped with decibel meters to enforce a new excessive noise law.

“On this law, we are now lowering the decibel sound of the noise that can be made, and police officers will now carry decibel meters,” Supervisor Sylvia Virtuoso said at the Town Board meeting on Tuesday. “So, when there’s a complaint on noise, it has to stay well beneath the decibel sound limit or they will be violating it.”

The new law states noise must stay below 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels during evening hours. Noise five decibels above the ambient sound, such as a loud car during night hours, will also be in violation of the new law.

In other news

•Towns across Niagara County will be talking to one another in an attempt to collaborate in cleaning out the creeks and ditches within their respective borders and decrease flooding, Virtuoso said after the board meeting.

“We have a supervisor meeting and a meeting at the sewer district, because we’re having a lot of trouble with stormwater flooding, not sewage,” she said. “(It’s) stormwater that is filling the manholes and the sewers that is the problem.”

“The creeks need to be drained. We’d like to have the creeks dredged – we understand that’s an issue – but we would like simple maintenance of debris and grass cutting. That would be a great start to move water faster when we have these storms that are coming stronger and more often.”

•The Town Hall parking lot in the Town of Niagara will be sealed along with the lot in front of the Highway Garage. The walking paths of the Town Park will also be sealed, Virtuoso said, after a unanimous vote by the Town of Niagara Town Board at its recent business meeting.

The cost of the sealing is $22,586, and work will be done by Black Gold Sealer of Grand Island.