The city of Denver is moving forward with proposed changes to its local noise ordinance that would permit earlier garbage collection and noisier festivals but ban “plainly audible” nighttime construction.

Council Bill 25-0044 got its first nod of approval from the City Council on Feb. 18 and will be back at Monday’s meeting for a second vote.

The last time Denver addressed its noise concerns was in 2017, said Brendan Doyle, noise program supervisor for the Denver Department of Public Health.

“Anybody that’s lived in the City and County of Denver for any significant amount of time knows that our city doesn’t look the way it did almost two decades ago,” Doyle added. “It’s grown dramatically.”

And that means more noise from development as well as entertainment and music events.

Summary of proposed changes

• Waste stream activities such as trash collection, recycling and composting could begin as early as 6 a.m. but would be prohibited after 10 p.m.

• Festivals or “noise-producing events” on public property that are properly permitted by applicable city agencies could receive a 5-decibel (from 80dBa to 85dBA) bump with a hard stop at 10 p.m. Those held on private property could also receive an elevated noise level of 85dBA for a total of eight calendar days per year but could not exceed four consecutive days.
• Construction activities that are “plainly audible” would be prohibited between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. on weekdays and 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. on weekends.
• Pre-existing noise sources in mixed-use areas would still be permitted to produce the same amount of sound during operations, regardless of surrounding development.
• Engine compression brakes (Jake brakes) will be prohibited.
• No changes have been proposed to the official noise variance process. However, new allowances for “non-conforming, nighttime, noise-producing construction activities would need to be approved by DDPHE, provided certain conditions are met.

Nick Williams, DOTI deputy manager of internal and external affairs, said that with the change in the ordinance, residents will not see any new changes in current waste collection services.

“So even though we’ll have the option to start (trash collection) at 6 a.m., we will not be making any service changes,” he said.