By Cate Wachholz
Steve Hart, a newly elected member of the Board of Supervisors, declined to say whether he supports an ordinance that bans noise after 10 p.m. in Rockbridge County.
“I don’t know enough details to have an intelligent opinion,” Hart, who will represent the Kerrs Creek district, said in an interview. “So, I’ll have no opinion until I do.”
But he said he has little tolerance for weekday partying that disturbs neighbors.
“I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people that are making loud noises at a party at 10 o’clock at night,” he said. “I just don’t. I don’t do it because it’s not polite to my neighbors.”
On Oct. 14, the Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 to change the start of quiet time under the county’s weekday noise ordinance to 10 p.m. from 11 p.m. The change exempted nonprofit organizations like Lime Kiln and Hull’s Drive In.
Hart is replacing Daniel Lyons who did not seek re-election. Lyons voted in favor of the noise ordinance change.
Incumbent Jay Lewis was re-elected to fill the Walkers Creek seat in a closely contested race. Lewis, a supervisor since 2017, was one of the two votes cast against the new weekday noise ordinance.
The change in the ordinance occurred after neighbors complained about Washington and Lee University students who live at Windfall Hill and what are known as the Pole Houses.
For years, neighbors have complained about noise from student parties. In response, W&L created the Campus Community Coalition. The coalition is made up of W&L administrators, students, neighbors and local officials. The group’s mission is to maintain a positive relationship between county residents and students living off campus.
Janie Harrison, one of the student chairs of the group, said police have been enforcing the 10 p.m. noise cut-off since the new provision went into effect.
“More people who live on the hill have been getting misdemeanors,” she said. “To my knowledge, the neighbors have generally not been calling or texting students before they call police.”
Harrison said students plan to meet with administration officials Friday to talk about how they can persuade neighbors to text or call student leaders before they seek help from police.
Hart said government intervention occurs for a reason.
“If people are neighborly, it tends to work better. And if they’re not, you can’t write enough rules,” he said. “You just can’t write enough rules to deal with people who are bound and determined to behave badly.”
Hart said people with jobs need sleep.
“We get up in the morning, and we go to work, because if we don’t go to work, we don’t get paid,” he said, “and if we don’t get paid, we don’t pay the bills, and then they come and take our stuff.”