Like a lot of suburban communities, Clearcreek Township in Warren County is growing and experiencing growing pains. Township trustees will consider whether to enact a noise ordinance this month.
Township Administrator Matt Clark says complaints are up, and it shows how that part of Warren County is changing.
“I mean, that’s just kind of the nature of where we are geographically, and the phenomenon and planning of urban sprawl — or suburban sprawl, if you will,” he says. “It happens. It’s slow, but at some point in time we all look back over our shoulder and say, ‘Why, when I was here 40 years ago, all this was farmland.’ ”
Clark says they've had noise complaints before. “In the last couple of years, they’ve picked up in frequency … for certain areas in the township.”
He says the number of complaints has been climbing, as more people move into the Warren County township, and says trustees are trying to balance everyone's needs.
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“If you have a resident that is into auto racing, and they carry this hobby out, testing and tuning and fixing their car at home in a garage, there’s a reasonable hour to do that,” he says. “You know, if you have a high-powered race motor and you’re tuning it at 11 p.m., that’s probably not reasonable.”
Clark says trustees are not considering a blanket ban on noises.
“The noise resolution that we have drafted is very, very careful to exempt most agricultural activities because agriculture can be loud.”
There are other exemptions as well. Clark says there is a draft ordinance under consideration, but trustees first want to hear from those it would affect.
They're setting time aside before their next meeting, Jan. 13 in Springboro, to get input.
