Do Chapel Hill’s proposed party rules go too far? Public meetings delay petition.
The story was updated at 12 p.m. Sept. 14, 2022, to note that the petition to the Town Council has been delayed to allow time for more community conversations.
Chapel Hill is considering new rules and stiff fines for party hosts if their event gets out of control and police are called.
Tenants could be fined for a first offense, while property owners and landlords would receive a written warning, according to a draft copy of the new rules posted to Twitter on Sunday.
Subsequent offenses in a 12-month period could bring fines of up to $1,250 for everyone.
But first, the Campus & Community Coalition drafting the “social host” ordinance wants to have more conversations with UNC students and residents, said Samantha Luu, the coalition’s executive director. The group will not present a petition to the Chapel Hill Town Council on Sept. 14 as planned, Luu said.
Instead, they will hold at least two community conversations to clarify the reasons for the new rules and how they were drafted, as well as address public concerns about fairness, such as the discretion police will have to warn or fine people for first offenses.
“I think we just wanted to make sure that people felt like we were really wanting to listen to them and we wanted to hear them out on whatever concerns that they had,” Luu said.
The details are still being worked out, but the meetings could be held in September or October, she said.
The coalition, which includes town, university and community representatives, as well as residents, could make more revisions before giving the rules to town staff for its review and then to the council, Luu said. She encouraged residents to attend the meetings to learn more about the goals and to offer their ideas and perspectives.
“The impetus for the ordinance is that community members really wanted accountability for wild and disruptive parties that were happening in their neighborhoods, and that these parties were largely occurring in or near campus, near downtown and historically Black neighborhoods,” Luu said.
Students, alcohol, parties
In its report last year to the Orange County Health Department, the coalition noted that alcohol sales and consumption increased during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, especially among college students. It also contributed to the spread of COVID-19 in the community, and to high-profile issues between the town and campus over alcohol and parties, the report said.
More recent data is pending, Luu said, but they’ve already seen a national increase in alcohol and substance abuse. Chapel Hill also could see an increase, she said, but the town usually has less high-risk and underage drinking than the nation at large.
The group’s debut in 2013 to address high-risk alcohol use, substance abuse and off-campus behaviors followed in the footsteps of the Good Neighbor Initiative, now in its 18th year.
The initiative brought together the town, UNC and neighbors to address nuisance behaviors, such as noise, parties and traffic, that grew as large student rentals rapidly replaced Northside’s traditional African-American homes near downtown.
The Jackson Center served as a bridge between officials and residents. Its executive director, George Barrett, is a coalition member, and Northside’s neighbors gave feedback on the proposed rules, as did the town’s Reimagining Community Policing Task Force, Luu said.
Nighttime noise and justice concerns
In a phone interview Monday with The News and Observer, Mayor Pam Hemminger said the rules are needed because of complaints about late-night noise downtown. The town’s noise ordinance wasn’t working, because the fraternities were willing to pay the fines, she said.
“We’re fine with people making noise and having a good time, but there’s a certain period at night when it needs to stop, because it affects other people at that point,” Hemminger said.
On social media, the response to the draft rules was harsh, raising concerns about expanded police powers and discretion and questioning whether the rules would be used to target Black and brown residents.
The ordinance defines a loud or unruly gathering as two or more people whose conduct “is dangerous, prejudicial, or detrimental to the public health, safety, or general welfare of this Article.”
That can include excessive traffic or people gathering in the street, fights, vandalism and littering, it said.
There would be an appeals process, whereby violators could ask the town manager or a designated staff member to reduce the fine, although the first fine would be at least $150. The manager also could require the violator to complete a remedial program.
The town would educate people about the new rules before the fines kick in, Luu said. She expects it to work in tandem with the town’s existing party registration program that was launched in 2018 and already has registered a few parties this semester.
Registering with the town can help head off a visit from the police, instead letting the host know via text message or phone call to get their party under control before the police show up, Luu said.
“The goal of the ordinance is to deter the disruptive parties,” she said. “We want to ultimately increase the quality of life for the residents by decreasing the issues that are associated with these parties.”
This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 7:55 AM with the headline "Do Chapel Hill’s proposed party rules go too far? Public meetings delay petition.."
