Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/281176
vetting [the revised ordinance] first, with the unintended consequences that could occur," Barbetta said. Maj. Kurt Hoffman, head of the Administrative Division and general counsel for the Sheriff's Office, had expressed support for the staff's proposed changes, Thompson told Barbetta. However, those did not include the 5-degree lower readings approved Wednesday. Additionally, Thompson said, she had not had emails from business owners or any of the county's Chambers of Commerce, to which she had sent notices of the draft revisions. When Barbetta pressed her about whether staff had notified the businesses in Gulf Gate, many of which are bars and restaurants, Thompson responded, "Directly, we didn't notify them." Later, Barbetta asked County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh, "Can we do a site specific time/place and manner [ordinance], where [music is] limited to certain times" and can- not be amplified? The amplification restriction could lead to free-speech lawsuits, DeMarsh responded. "However, there are places that create dis- tricts with different decibel standards." Restrictions that are too narrow can be seen by the courts as "a pretext for regulating a particular speaker's viewpoint," Assistant County Attorney David Pearce explained. Sound mixer Christopher Young protests the proposed sound ordinance changes. Photo by Rachel Hackney Sarasota News Leader March 21, 2014 Page 20