Business owners, community members work together to silence noise proposal

City Council members withdraw noise ordinance proposal after voiced opposition

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — La Crosse’s proposed sound ordinance was met with some unintended noise, and council members withdrew it Wednesday.

Local business owners and community members voiced their opposition to the proposal both to their council members and on social media. A Facebook page created in response to the ordinance showed hundreds were interested in providing their input at an upcoming city council meeting.

“Within 48 hours we had banded together local business owners, the tavern league, civic leaders, local politicians and just concerned community members,” said Jason LaCourse, owner of the Cavalier. “Within that time we were able to raise enough ruckus that this thing got put down.”

James Cherf, one of the council members who proposed the ordinance, said it was mischaracterized and people got the wrong idea.

“My intent was to make for more specific guidelines regarding electronic noise and to eliminate that more subjective call,” he said. “I wholly had expected a lively conversation and debate and some tweaking both of the time frame and distance by which a reasonable person could measure noise.”

Cherf said he was happy people got involved in the conversation, however, and he heard both support and opposition.

The owner of the Stein Haus, Chris Stolpa, said the noise ordinance would have killed the spirit of downtown and put an undue burden on police, and he’s happy people worked together to get their voices heard.

“It proves that the voice matters, people matter and am glad people finally see that,” said Stolpa. “Together, we can do great things.”

“The thing to me I found most amazing was just the sense of community of everyone coming together,” said LaCourse.

Cherf said he has no plans to reintroduce the proposal anytime soon, but hopes someone will eventually tweak our current noise ordinance.