The noise ordinance was once again the first topic on the list of discussion items at last week’s Medford Town Council meeting.
Mayor Charles Watson, along with the township manager and township zoning officer, met with three representatives from the JCC camp including the camp director.
“We discussed the issue with them. They seemed very understanding about the situation and said they were actually finished for the year with that particular activity,” Watson said.
The activity refers to the band playing that has had residents in the area up in arms about the amount of excessive noise that it gives off from sunrise to sunset on weekends.
“By the end of the meeting, they understood that they were potentially violating the planning board approvals,” Watson said.
It turns out that this activity is primarily run by young adults, mostly college students.
For next year, the camp stated that it would try to come up with a better plan that is not going to affect the neighbors as much.
“Before they sign a contract with anyone permitting that activity again, they said they would come back to us and make sure it is something that we can all agree on,” Watson said.
This lead to more talks about potential changes to the township’s noise ordinance in general.
A few residents whose houses back to the JCC camp spoke in the public comment session in regard to this topic.
“We have a couple houses for sale in the neighborhood, and if people come and look at houses on the weekend and hear this noise, it makes it awfully hard for people that need to move for whatever reason,” 15-year Medford resident Jeanne Hauser said.
Earl Stahl, who owns a solar farm in the area, made a suggestion to council to keep in mind when amending the noise ordinance.
“When I got the solar farm approved out on 85 acres, we had to prove that the inverters didn’t exceed the state noise decibel limit, so there is a law when it comes to that,” Stahl said. “Just some information to keep in mind moving forward on this ordinance.”
The council has reviewed a wealth of information in regard to this topic since the last meeting, including the Cherry Hill noise ordinance and the state guidelines.
“We obviously don’t want to do anything haphazardly that’s going to affect residents or their abilities to do things, so I would like to form a subcommittee that will look at the noise ordinance and report back to council with any changes that may be necessary,” Watson said.
This subcommittee will consist of Watson, Councilman Jeffrey Beenstock, Medford Chief of Police Richard Meder and a zoning officer.
“The subcommittee will be getting together and looking into this and will be reporting back at some point,” Watson said.
In other news:
• The standard for keeping chickens ordinance that has recently been discussed multiple times was adopted upon second reading after a few minor wording modifications. The ordinance now covers restrictions being put on the number of chickens, size of the coupe, noise issues and no roosters.
• Due to a conflict with a couple councilmen scheduled to be away on Sept. 1, both September meetings may be moved back a week since there are five weeks in the month.
• The next town council meeting will be held as scheduled on Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Medford Municipal Building.
