Fines for noise violations on Maui could increase as much as twenty-fold under a bill under discussion by the Maui County Council.
Current Maui noise control measures impose fines of $25 to $100 for a first offense. But a bill that will go before the council on Friday would increase those first-offense fines to a flat $500.
Subsequent offenses would also increase commensurately. A second offense, which currently incurs fines between $100 and $250, would cost $750 in fines, and any further offense, which currently is fined between $250 and $500, would elicit a $1,000 fine.
The measure specifically amends the county’s ordinances relating to amplified sounds from vehicles. Any vehicle running a “sound amplification system” audible from 50 feet away or more while the vehicle is in operation in a public area would run afoul of the increased fines.
Council Chair Alice Lee introduced the bill last year, saying at the time that it was modeled on Honolulu’s own noise control ordinances. Honolulu’s fine structure is similar to that in Lee’s proposal: on O‘ahu a first offense is punished by a $100 fine, a second offense by a $500 fine and any subsequent offense by a $1,000 fine.
If passed, this would be the first change to the county’s noise control ordinances since 1990. Lee said the original ordinances were established following the 1989 death of a high school student who was badly injured in a road accident, but didn’t receive prompt medical assistance because his screams couldn’t be heard over the sound of a loud boom box in the area.
“The reason why I am introducing this amendment, to increase the penalties so that people will think twice about blasting their radios and disturbing the whole neighborhood,” Lee said at an October committee hearing.
Lee announced Monday that Wailuku residents have sent an increasing number of complaints about excessive noise from vehicles. A petition by Maui businesses about the issue will also be presented at Friday’s council meeting.
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