Livability Ordinance Lets Neighbors Take Gripes to Court

Tried and failed for years to resolve a dispute with a neighbor?

Soon Charleston County residents will have new ways of resolving such livability issues, similar to the existing methods provided to City of Charleston residents through the city's Livability Court.

County Council has to pass the third and final reading of its Livability Ordinance tonight for the changes to officially take effect, and then residents will be able to call on sheriff's deputies to enforce applicable noise control and other measures that affect quality of life. And if that too fails residents can take their neighbors to Charleston County Magistrate Court for resolution.

"We have had noise ordinances that have been unenforceable for years because of archaic language," Charleston County Councilwoman Colleen Condon said. 

The new livability ordinance deals largely with noise and animal-related issues, and through its implementation will eliminate prior attempts to deal with such issues in the county code of ordinances and replace those laws with the new language.

The City of Charleston took a slightly different track in dealing with livability issues, setting up a Livability Court and now a City Livability Division to handle the issues.

The recently created Livability Division is headed by Dan Riccio, who retired from the Charleston Police Department in 2010. The new division moved all of the city's code enforcement officers into a single department rather than leaving officers in each city department to enforce the codes relevant only to that department.

"By forming the division, we have everyone under one umbrella," Riccio said. "It streamlined everything, there are no more duplicate cases."

In the city, all livability issues are addressed through the Livability Court, which was set up prior to the Livability Division. A municipal judge presides over the court and issues an order in every case.

"For every case heard an order is issued," Riccio said. "So there is no question about what is expected of each party."

The system was created to plug a gap in the existing municipal system through which such cases were slipping, Riccio said.

"It was created by (Charleston Mayor) Joe Riley in response to residents' complaints," Riccio said. "They kept saying we don't have an avenue for those issues because in the municipal court they are not getting the attention needed."

While the new county ordinance does allow for residents to seek redress in Charleston County Magistrate court for livability issues, the law sets up the Charleston County Sheriff's Office as the first point of contact.

With new language spelling out that loud music from an automobile that is "plainly audible" to the human ear, or "unaided hearing facilities" as the ordinance reads, at a distance of 50 feet constitutes a noise offense. Additionally amplified sound that is audible inside someone else's dwelling also counts as a noise offense.

The new law sets aside several exemptions including church bells, warning sirens and alarms when used lawfully, farming, timber harvesting and milling, construction and mining equipment noises during daylight hours and several other instances in which the prohibition does not apply.

On the animal side, the new law requires all cats and dogs older than 3 months to have identification tags. Additionally the ordinance stipulates that it is illegal to have an animal that interferes with the ordinary use and enjoyment of public or private property or damages someone else's property, to maintain animals in unsanitary conditions, to maintain property that is offensive or annoying to neighbors because of the number and density of animals, to allow excessive barking or howling, to keep a diseased animal that is dangerous to public health, have an animal that repeatedly chases or snaps at others, or to fail to contain a female dog or cat while it is in heat.

"A lot of these issues have been driven by folks in West Ashley that have had problems with trying to get the old ordinances enforced," Condon said. "We had one instance where someone had a kennel with 15 dogs in their back yard in the middle of a neighborhood. There were no laws on the books against it, but it was clearly a nuissance."

"We now have a reasonableness standard," Condon continued. "I had heard from a lot of West Ashley citizens that they felt like second class citizens with no way to guarantee their quality of life."

Violations of the ordinance are considered misdemeanors are are punishable by a fine of $500 or less and/or 30 days or less in jail. Charleston County Council is to vote on the third and final read of the new Livability Ordinance tonight during its regular meeting 7 p.m. tonight at the Lonnie Hamilton, III Public Service Building at 4045 Bridge View Drive, North Charleston.