The City of Carmel is taking aim at excessively loud vehicles and impolite parkers.
An ordinance that would ban excessively loud vehicles in Carmel was introduced to city council during a June 1 meeting. It zeros in on motor vehicles that intentionally rev engines or use modified exhaust systems to create excessive, unnecessary or unusually loud noise.
“The City Council hereby finds and declares that the emission of such noise through the intentional revving of engines, the use of modified exhaust systems and aggressive acceleration constitutes a public nuisance, in that it interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property by a significant number of residents and visitors,” the ordinance reads.
The ordinance would prohibit motorists from operating a vehicle that creates excessive noise “plainly audible to a person of normal hearing at 30 feet or more from the vehicle’s location.”
It defines excessive vehicle noise as excessive engine revving, generation of noise through a modified exhaust system, aggressive acceleration or any other unreasonable or excessive engine or exhaust system noise.
“We realize this ordinance is not the easiest to enforce,” Sergey Grechukhin, a city attorney, said of the loud vehicles ordinance. “The officer has to be in the right place at the right time. The ordinance is designed to curb the behavior as much as we can. We understand it’s not going to probably end it entirely.”
The ordinance would not apply to emergency or law enforcement vehicles. Violators of the ordinance would face a $100 fine for the first offense and a $250 fine for all subsequent offenses.
The ordinance will be discussed further in the city council Finance, Utilities and Rules Committee, which has not yet scheduled its next meeting.
Carmel to increase parking violations enforcement
City Councilors, during their June 1 meeting, passed an ordinance that will allow for increased enforcement of parking violations in the city.
Sgt. Zach Hasty, who oversees Carmel Police Department’s traffic unit, said the ordinance was prompted by complaints from residents about parking issues in downtown and near the city’s high school.
Hasty noted many of the complaints have been about motorists parking their vehicles in designated three-hour parking spots for more than three hours. The ordinance allows the Carmel Police Department to hire two part-time parking enforcement officers, who will use license plate reading cameras to assist in enforcement of the city’s parking rules.
“What we are looking to try to do with this is change behavior,” Hasty said. “We want to encourage people to come and spend time downtown. It’s hard to do when it’s hard to find a parking space in front of your favorite restaurant because somebody is parking there all day.”
City councilors may look into increasing fines for parking violations next. Hasty noted the fines have started at $25 per parking violation in Carmel for at least the past 17 years, since he joined the city’s police department.
“The goal of this is not to create a windfall of parking violation revenue,” city councilor Rich Taylor said. “The goal of this is to change behavior so we have proper churn for our on-street parking, and to change behavior to alleviate some of the parking problems we have.”
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @Jake_Allen19. Click here to get Hamilton County news sent straight to your inbox and subscribe to the IndyStar North newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Carmel pushes ban on loud vehicles and ups parking enforcement
Reporting by Jake Allen, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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