When It Must Get Quieter In La Grange

LA GRANGE, IL — La Grange officials say they sometimes get questions about when it's too late to have live music at their graduation celebrations and other parties.

This week, the Village Board enacted the first major amendments to the town's noise rules in nearly four decades. Now, violations are to be based on a "reasonable person" standard, rather than on technical rules such as decibel levels. The technical standard, officials said, requires specialized equipment and training.

The new rules "will be easier for people to understand. People don't really understand decibel levels," Charity Jones, the village's community development director, said at Monday's board meeting. "But in general terms, 10 p.m. is when things have to get a lot quieter in La Grange."

As for those having parties outdoor parties at home, Village President Mark Kuchler said the police chief has "always said it's best to talk to your neighbors. We really start to enforce more and more when the neighbors call. And if neighbors are at the party, they usually don't call."

Kuchler said some people make a lot of noise in the downtown parking garage, drawing complaints. A few are racing, revving their engines and screeching their tires, he said, asking Police Chief Kurt Bluder whether the changes would help.

Bluder said the amendments would provide a few more tools and make the regulations more reasonable to enforce. He said he could think of three or four ways to issue tickets under the new rules.

The board unanimously voted for the changes.