Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/277189
By 70 [dbC] day or night, we are ready to sharpen our pitchforks and light the torches." Three days earlier, Chapman told the board, residents on Montclair Drive experienced readings higher than 83 dbC "consistently throughout the day. We were ready to explode." Bob's Boathouse is located at 5515 S. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota. Neighbors have complained to the commissioners about loud music ema- nating from the business at night since it opened on that site in early November 2013. Another Montclair Drive resident, Michelle Lee, explained to the board on March 4 that as a nurse with a Bachelor of Science degree, she is well aware of the physiological and mental symptoms people have been docu- mented to suffer after prolonged exposure to "low-frequency intrusion," or involuntary exposure to the bass levels of music. Among them are decreased concentration, elevated blood pressure, insomnia, headaches, exhaus- tion and digestive problems. Jim McWhorter, president of the River Forest Civic Association, told the board, "The [revised] ordinance needs tweaks to get it right." While county staff's proposed drop of dbC levels by 5 degrees for all generating land- use categories "is a good change," he said, the dbC level for residences in the Receiving Land Use Category table should be lowered to 65 instead of remaining at 70 between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Approving residents' request to reduce the dbA level from 65 to 60 during those same hours, McWhorter said, "aligns Sarasota County with every other county on the Florida west coast," and 95 percent of county homeowners will enjoy better protec- tion from loud noise. "Can every other county be wrong about their codes?" he asked. THE DISCUSSION During her board report that same day, Commissioner Nora Patterson reminded her colleagues that one primary reason for revis- ing the ordinance is to enable law enforcement and county Code Enforcement personnel to measure noise levels from the receiving side after a complaint is lodged if responding offi- cers find it difficult to measure the sound from the generating line. That change was proposed because Bob's Boathouse stands next to Phillippi Creek. Further, Patterson noted, a change was pro- posed in the ordinance to allow commercial establishments such as Bob's Boathouse Jim McWhorter, president of the River Forest Civic Association, addresses the County Commission on Feb. 19. File photo Sarasota News Leader March 14, 2014 Page 28