Cape Coral reviewing proposal to increase late-night noise limit downtown

Tom Stevens lives just off SE 46th Lane, within earshot of downtown Cape Coral.

“In the area we live in, we know we have to tolerate that so it’s not a big problem,” Stevens said.

He’s become used to the noise that fills the streets on a typical Friday or Saturday night, from crowd noises, to celebrations, to live music.

“Some bands go until 11 or 12, I can live with that, but to put up with it all night, no. I mean this is a residential area on this side of the street,” he said.

Right now, the city code allows businesses to reach up to 72 decibels of sound before 10 p.m. and then the limit drops to 65 decibels, which sounds like a crowd in conversation.

But the planning and zoning commission is considering an exception for downtown which would increase the noise limit up to 75 decibels, the equivalent of a vacuum cleaner. The proposal didn’t list a time limit.

“It’s already loud, so you know two or three times as loud and I’d never have my door open,” said resident Carol Breeding.

And now, with some bars staying open late into the night, surrounding homeowners are afraid getting sleep could become an even bigger challenge.

“Think they should come down and listen to it themselves and see if that’s the situation they want to live in before they pass a rule like that,” Stevens said.

The planning and zoning commission will review the plan next week before it’s passed along to the city council.

There will be an exemption, which runs “until midnight and on Friday and Saturday nights only,” Robert Pederson, a city spokesperson, wrote in an email.