Town Bylaw Targets Off-Campus Parties

On Dec. 6 the town of Middlebury’s adopted ordinance concerning rental houses, apartments and the control of public nuisances went into effect.  Associate Dean of Students for Residential and Student Life Douglas Adams notified all off-campus residents in an email the following day.

According to Adams, the town addressed experiences where student occupants of rental locations were chronically and excessively disruptive in Middlebury neighborhoods. Some of these instances have led to visits by the town police and contributed to the motion to create the new town policy.

“In the spirit of this ordinance, we ask that you remember to be sensitive to the potential impact you will have on the people who live nearby,” Adams said in the email. “Living in the community requires work and an understanding that what you do will impact people who have different work schedules, noise tolerance and expectations of behaviors than a typical college student,” he continued.

The new policy states that previous other laws and ordinances do not adequately control “chronic unlawful or nuisance activity or its detrimental effect on the community where such chronic activity occurs.”

The ordinance stipulates that the fourth or more separate noise violations occurring on the same property within a 180-day period is deemed as a public nuisance. A violation will be issued if loud noise occurs after 10 p.m. on weekdays and after 1 a.m. on weekdays, although complaints may be made before these times. The initial occurrence of a public nuisance on a property is a violation of the ordinance and may be punishable as a first offense with a fine.

In the email, Adams provided tips to foster better relationships between students who live off campus and their respective neighborhoods. In addition to better communication among all community members, he also reminded students to be responsible for any parties before and after they occur.

“I think its important to reinforce that students living off campus have to uphold certain expectations,” Greer Howard ’16 said. “We’re a part of the community, our neighbors aren’t all on the same schedules, and we need to be cognizant of those differences.”