Naples City Council considers extending noise ordinance hours

Naples wants to crack down on people making too much noise around the city. But that means limiting when you can and cannot cut your grass and trim your hedges.

“Twenty-two minutes before the sunrise,” said Lee Kistler on a cleanly manicured front lawn, “I’m supposed to wake up to this?”

Kistler is fed up with hearing landscapers early in the morning. She said Naples is filled with tourists and people who are retired. Both like to sleep in and not be bothered like herself.

“Not wanting to wear headphones in my waking hours,” Kistler said. “I kind of like waking up to the thought of hearing the birds, not the leaf blowers.”

Naples City Council will discuss this week an ordinance to discuss noise volumes by landscape companies. They want to push back the time landscapers can begin their work from 7:00 a.m. to half-an-hour later. The end time would be adjusted, moving from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

“Common courtesy: you don’t wake up people at the crack of dawn with egregiously loud unnecessary noise,” Kistler said.

Landscapers WINK News spoke with said their schedule is structured for a reason. Many want to work in the early morning so they can be home with their children at the end of their school day. Also, there is an opportunity to work later in the day with the extra hours an early start brings.

David Shearer said the movement to adjust the noise hours is a wasted effort.

“You want to be protected from speech; you want to be protected from noise; you want to be protected from everything,” Shearer said. “If there’s workers out there, let them work.”

He said what is in place now is not unreasonable.

“If those people are willing to get out there and work,” Shearer said, “they should be allowed to do it.”