FORT PIERCE – For people complaining about neighborhood noise that impedes their sleep, or drivers who feel vibration caused by loud music from other vehicles, Fort Pierce city officials are considering tougher enforcement.

According to city statistics, law enforcement responded to nearly 2,000 noise complaint calls in the city between April 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026. And officials say about one in three of those complaints came from the same 14 city locations.

Half of all calls currently come in Sundays, between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.

Now city leaders have proposed ordinance amendments that would expand police enforcement authority, beef up penalties that could include fines of up to $250-$500 per day of violation and allow the city to place unpaid fines as liens against the properties where violations take place.

In addition, officials are recommending that parents/guardians be made responsible for the penalties levied against juvenile offenders.

District 1 Commissioner Arnold Gaines suggested chronic noise offenders are now using loopholes in the current ordinances that should be closed, giving “more teeth to enforcement.”

For example, Gaines said those violators will continue to offend until they get the three warnings from police, then turn down their music. Gaines said violators also may make loud noise in one location where police respond, then move down the street or to another parking lot to continue the obnoxious noise.

Police currently issue written “warnings” if violations occur within the same 24 hours at the same location.

Proposed change would require no warnings be issued when officers consider the noise “so loud, excessive or disruptive that it constitutes a clear and substantial disturbance or breach of the peace.”

In instances not considered severe, the city is proposing penalties when the same individuals are cited during a 48- or 72-hour period at any location in the city. They would get five minutes to comply after the first warning and a citation to appear would be issued if the violation continued another five minutes or if it was a third violation. An arrest would be made for a fourth offense or if another five minutes passed without correcting the current violation.

Chronic violations would be defined as three or more verified noise complaints at the same location within 30 days, or six or more within 90 days.

If an offender fails to follow a compliance plan or new complaints continue, the incidents could be treated as a public nuisance that’s referred to the city’s Nuisance Abatement Road where daily fines of up to $250-$500 can be ordered. If the fines are not paid, a lien may be placed on the property where the incident occurs and the city can foreclose to collect the lien after three months, affecting the violator and the property owner.

Quieter hours would be observed from 10 or 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on specified days or seven days a week, depending upon the commission’s final action.

Rather than spending an estimated $80,000 to have a sound study conducted to scientifically define “loud” noise, city staff is recommending officers use what a “reasonable person” would consider excessive or audible from a vehicle to an officer at least 25 feet away.

“That’s all some of the residents want – more teeth in enforcement,” Gaines said, supporting the recommendations. “If you put citations in their hands, the noise will stop.”

An implementation date has not been determined yet. City Clerk Linda Cox said recommended ordinance changes require two public hearings once final ordinance language is drafted.