UPDATED @ 7:30 a.m. April 19: The Borough Council has voted to pursue complete local responsibility for noise-related enforcement at liquor-licensed bars and restaurants. An updated report is available on this page.
Earlier coverage is posted below.
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Earlier coverage, posted @ 1:47 a.m. April 18:
State College Borough Council may decide Monday whether it wants the municipal police to take over all noise enforcement at borough bars.
Right now, under state rules, the state Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement issues the bulk of noise-related citations at liquor-licensed establishments in State College. State BLCE officers issued 19 noise citations against borough bars and restaurants in the past 27 months, police Chief Tom King said last week.
In the same period, borough police responded separately to seven noise complaints at borough bars and restaurants.
But not all noise violations are created equal in State College, bar owners and authorities have said. Generally, state BLCE officers will issue a citation when they witness a technical violation of state noise guidelines, which keep bars from letting much noise spill outdoors. State officers will write those citations regardless of whether anyone has complained about a bar’s noise.
Borough police, meanwhile, usually cite bars only if someone first complains about noise or if the establishments are obviously out of line with community standards, King said.
‘There can be a lot of gray area’ when state officers are monitoring noise, said State College Tavern Association President Association Jennifer Zangrilli. The Tavern Association, seeking ‘a level playing field,’ has asked the borough to take over all local bar-and-restaurant noise enforcement under a provision in state law.
Zangrilli lamented that state officers do not use decibel meters in their enforcement practices. ‘It’s something that’s enforced by whoever’s doing the enforcement at that particular time,’ she said.
Pat Daugherty, proprietor of the Tavern Restaurant in State College, said bar operators ‘are not saying we’re being treated unfairly.
‘We just prefer the other (borough) ordinance,’ Daugherty said. ‘I can’t be any more honest than that. I think it’s a good ordinance for the borough, as well.’
The borough ordinance cites specific decibel measurements to guide noise levels. State officers use their judgment in gauging bars’ noise, considering how it compares with ambient factors such as nearby traffic, state police Sgt. Wayne Bush has said before Borough Council.
Borough Council members heard presentations on the issue last week and are scheduled to take up the matter at their noon meeting on Monday. The public meeting will be held on the third floor of the municipal building, 243 S. Allen St.
If council members pursue exclusive enforcement of noise violations by borough police, they’ll have to send a request to the state Liquor Control Board. Borough police Chief Tom King and borough Manager Tom Fountaine both have recommended that the council pursue the change to borough-only enforcement. (The change would not affect the state BLCE’s work in enforcing other liquor-law standards in State College, including the minimum drinking age.)
Fountaine has noted that noise citations issued at licensed establishments make up a very small fraction of total noise-related violations found in the borough. In the past 27 months, he said, the borough has seen about 1,800 noise violations in all.
Additional items on the council’s Monday agenda include discussion about the future of West End zoning, fair-housing and anti-discrimination ordinances, and a long-proposed inclusionary housing ordinance. The complete council agenda is available through the borough website.
