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Today at 4:30 p.m., Orono’s Community Development Committee will follow up on last month’s informational meeting concerning a proposed occupancy limit. If such an ordinance is written and passed, it wouldn’t be the first ordinance designed to protect Orono residents from rowdy neighbors.
According to Orono Police Chief Gary Duquette, the town would regularly see house parties with as many as 300 people in past years. “You could have a night where there would be 3 or 4 parties that size scattered around the town,” Duquette said.
Then, in the fall of 2002, Orono resident Michael Curtis was assaulted outside his home after asking a noisy group to take their party outside. “I was lying on the grass and there was at least two guys punching and kicking me,” Curtis told The Maine Campus at the time.
No one was charged for the assault, and in the coming months Orono and university officials searched for ways to remedy the rift that the incident created. At public hearings, other Orono residents living near students voiced complaints about noise and property destruction.
A year later, Orono drafted the Disorderly Property Ordinance, meant to prevent repeated loud gatherings by holding landlords responsible for noise made by residents. The ordinance was approved in March of 2004 and became effective a month later.
“I think there’s been a huge improvement,” Duquette said of the time in which the law has been in effect. Parties still happen, but Duquette said they’re “not the huge blowouts we’ve had for years and years and years.”
Under the ordinance, landlords receive a warning the first time a “disorderly event” occurs on their property. Disorderly events can include loud music, boisterous gatherings or altercations on the property.
It’s up to the landlord to crack down on the residents. If police report a second disorderly event within 60 days, the property is classified as a Disorderly Property and a third incident within 120 days of the original incident will incur a fine to the landlord of at least $500 but not greater than $1000.
“It’s meant to get a little cooperation with the property owners,” according to Duquette. He said that so far, the ordinance has achieved that goal.
Orono police began enforcing the ordinance in September of 2004. In the first year, the police issued 106 warnings. They sent out another 12 letters for second disorderly events, and only twice were third disorderly events recorded. The following year, statistics were almost identical.
Duquette said the low numbers of third offenses shows that landlords have been cooperating.
“Nobody wants to be labeled a disorderly property, so they want to know what they can do,” Duquette said. He said the department tries to deal with the incidents informally, leaving it to landlords to take control of their property. He said that third offense letters from the Orono Police, which are rare, have led to evictions.
Orchard Trails has a system in place for disorderly events, fining residents $100 for a second incident and $200 for a third incident.
Duquette said almost 40 complaints have come from Orchard Trails alone this year.
Town Council member and Orono landlord John Bradson said he is satisfied with the ordinance. Bradson was on the special committee set up to write the disorderly property ordinance, and said it has “achieved the goals it set out to achieve.”
Before writing the ordinance, Bradson and the committee sought out communities with similar problems stemming from temporary residents. Bar Harbor, for example, has had issues with summer workers partying all night. Finally, the committee found Portland, which had a similar disorderly property ordinance in place.
“They were very excited about their ordinance,” Bradson recalled.
“It seems to be quieter than in years past,” according to Bradson. “As much as you hear about students, I think they’re much more mature and much more responsible than they have been [in previous years],” he said.
Bradson has owned two apartment buildings near his own residence on Mill Street since 1972, and said he’s never had a problem with his residents, save for one recent disorderly event in which a resident dropped a beer bottle on the street.
Bradson said that his apartments only house one or two students apiece, but isn’t sure the occupancy limit will have the desired effect of ending loud parties. Bradson said that licensing landlords is also under consideration, and that keeping track of landlords would have the added benefit of getting useful statistics on Orono’s student population.
Duquette and Bradson both said that some level of noise and partying is expected in a town which is home to such a large university. “We still have parties, of course,” Duquette said. “We always will. We accept that.”
The key is keeping party noise and disruptions down to a level acceptable to neighbors.
“I think this town’s pretty lenient towards that,” Bradson said. He said he draws the line between 11 p.m. and midnight, when people want to sleep. He emphasized that not all troublemakers are students, and that some students are the ones complaining about disturbances.
“You think we’re bashing some students,” Bradson said. “We’re trying to protect the rights of other students to live in peace and quiet.”
Both the Community Development Committee and the Finance Committee meet tonight at 4:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of Orono Town Hall. The meetings are open to the public.
