FAIRHOPE, Ala. - After hearing more than a dozen people speak against changing the latest version of the noise ordinance, the City Council delayed action Monday on a proposed change that could have been voted on that night.

Although Councilman Dan Stankoski sought immediate consideration of the measure to reduce the maximum sound level from 85 to 65 decibel levels between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., Councilwoman Debbie Quinn opposed the motion, thus delaying a vote at the earliest to the April 25 council meeting.

“I was not particularly in favor of the 85 decibel level,” Stankoski said. “It appears it’s not working and needs to be fixed. If I’m going to make an error, I’m going to err on the side of the neighborhood.”

The current law became effective in January and requires the use of a decibel meter to measure violations, unlike earlier versions of the ordinance that relied on a subjective determination by police, who listened to the sound from inside the residence of complaining witnesses.

The debate has bitterly divided some people and businesses in the city, and both sides turned out April 11 to speak at the council meeting and the monthly public participation session that preceded it.

“Sustainable mediation cannot occur when one faction totally dominates the other and yet the Fly Creek Cafe feels they have a divine right to disrupt our neighborhood with excessively loud noise and to add to the insult we should not complain about it,” said Jim Horner, one of two people, both of whom live on Volanta Avenue, who spoke in favor of changing the ordinance. “I believe that the data on the noise ordinance is being misrepresented by some. We’ve never asked to have the noise stopped altogether. We’ve only asked that they turn the volume down.”

The proposed revision in the law followed a March 28 work session when the majority of speakers were in favor of a reduction in the decibel level, at a meeting with an agenda not printed in advance.

At Monday’s meeting, opponents to the proposed revision turned out in mass, including a number of local business owners who had the same message of letting the current law work, often noting their alliance with Fly Creek Cafe owner Tricia Niemeyer on the issue.

“I think the council would be making a mistake if you didn’t step back and give what we have a chance,” said Mac Walcott, a local architect and owner of Windmill Market in downtown Fairhope, which also features live music.

Other speakers against the measure included Karin Wilson, co-owner of Page and Palette bookstore, and local attorney Joseph Norton, as well as Niemeyer, who held up a decibel meter, which she said was used on a recent night to show that live music at her waterfront business did not violate the current law.

One of the main supporters of a reduced noise level, Patricia Havard, asked that a new law prohibit any amplified music at local businesses such as Fly Creek Cafe. Havard has researched noise ordinances in other cities, stating those in Baldwin County have a 65 or 60 decibel level maximum and that none have an 85 level, which has been used in some parts of Mobile.

Quinn said she had researched local cities with a mixed-use downtown area to find one comparable to Fairhope and also spoke with Mobile officials. She said the downtown area there does not have a noise ordinance, but one is being considered and a background noise level assessment has been done and another planned, in order to determine what the ordinance level should be.

She said the cost of those assessments was approximately $2,500 and recommended that Fairhope take a similar approach.

“I think maybe we ought to back up and do an assessment,” she said.