Shhhh! El Paso Bars Might Have To Turn Down The Music

Local bars might have to turn the music down if the City of El Paso puts a proposed noise ordinance into place. For a few years bars in entertainment districts like the one on Cincinnati Street near UTEP have been battling with people who live in the area over the amount of noise coming from bars. City officials say they’ve been getting complaints from people who live in those neighborhoods and it’s time to start doing something about that.

HOW NOISY IS TOO NOISY?
The current ordinance says that bars can’t have music above 70 decibels after midnight, but the proposal City Council will be considering would drop that to 65 decibels. The City says even though on average El Paso bars are usually around 63 decibels the way the current ordinance is written they cannot issue a ticket for a bar that is over the decibel level. City officials want to clarify that part of the current ordinance’s language and allow for not only violations to be issued to also to give the City the ability to take civil action if a bar owner is disregarding the ordinance altogether.

OTHER POSSIBLE CHANGES
Bars might also have to get a Sound Amplification permit if they are within 500 feet of a residential neighborhood, and if it’s a permit it will come with a fee. City Council will be talking about these revisions to the sound ordinance at their regular meeting tomorrow but they probably won’t make any decisions about changes tomorrow. The City will be holding a community meeting about the proposed changes to the sound ordinance on March 1.