Rose Garden Resident
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LeZotte asks for ban on horn-honking near homes in San Jose
ByMonica Heger
Residential versus industry. Neighbor versus neighbor. The argument between the Royal Coach Tours bus company and its residential neighbors has reached new heights.
Tessa Woodmansee, who lives across the street from the bus company on Stockton Avenue, has complained the company purposely harasses the neighbors with excessive horn-honking. Her complaints have caught the attention of San Jose City Councilwoman Linda LeZotte, who is asking the city council to adopt an urgency ordinance prohibiting the use of horns in residential neighborhoods for any reason other than emergency warning for a traffic hazard.
On Oct. 4, the rules committee asked City Attorney Rick Doyle to look into the enforceability of such an ordinance and the effect it would have on the city. He will bring his findings back to the rules committee, before going before the full city council.
Doyle said the council could adopt an urgency ordinance only "for the immediate health, preservation and wellness of the community." He said it would have to be a widespread problem and not just a neighbor-to-neighbor dispute. The city is investigating whether there have been similar noise-related complaints in other areas to determine how big an issue horn-honking is in residential neighborhoods.
Woodmansee said the noise problem started only after she reported the bus company to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District for excessive idling. The California Air Resources board issued several citations to the bus company for the idling. Following those citations, Woodmansee said, the noise problems began.
"They blast their horns 24/7 to harass the community," Woodmansee said.
"There were never any horns before we went to BAAQMD."
Woodmansee said the bus company has a sign reading, "honk for pedestrian safety," which she says is unnecessary.
Co-owner of Royal Coach Tours Sandy Allen declined to comment on the issue.
Deputy director of code enforcement Michael Hannon said the bus depot is in full compliance with San Jose's noise ordinance. He said the property is zoned for industry and that the buses use their horns for pedestrian safety.
"Royal Coach Tours has been operating at this location since the mid-1970s," Hannon said. "It is zoned for heavy industrial. Typically, these types of business don't have performance criteria like noise because there typically aren't going to be homes nearby."
He said that in the 1990s, as the population of San Jose grew and residential and industry found themselves neighbors, the city council adopted performance measures for industry to mitigate noise and other potential nuisances. Those performance measures are not applied retroactively to industry that already existed.
The bus company has been on Stockton for at least three decades. Most nearby residential streets were developed before 1930. Victorian-era homes still remain nearby.
"They're operating at their location fully compliant with the zoning regulation," Hannon said.
He said his staff has gone out a number of times to observe the noise impacts, and determined the noise was not to the level of being a nuisance to the neighbors.
Hannon said if the city council were to adopt an urgency ordinance and the bus company was found to be violating that ordinance, it could be fined up to $2,500 a day.
