I am writing to express my gratitude for the overwhelming support for the town warrant article amending the Noise Ordinance. This is a big win for Andover residents! I wish to give a big thank you to moderator, Jon Mishcon who handled the discussions with such clarity and respect.

Moving forward, I would also like to express a concern about one other section in the noise ordinance that has the potential to undermine what we accomplished with the elimination of “Special Permits”. This is the Enforcement And Penalties under Section Four of the ordinance, which states that “person convicted of knowingly violating this Ordinance, shall be subject to the following penalties as permitted by RSA: 31:39, III, with a maximum penalty not to exceed $1,000.” It sounds like this would be applied annually or within a 12-month period.

It is my concern that a big business or private enterprise might opt out to pay the fine. I put this concern out there so as to raise the possibility and to suggest that we all need to remain diligent in protecting our rights as citizens to peace and quiet between 10:30 PM and 7 AM.

I truly love Andover and, together, we voted and succeeded in making Andover an even better place to live by amending our Noise Ordinance.

Donna Baker-Hartwell