{"id":207218,"date":"2026-06-23T20:49:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T01:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=207218"},"modified":"2026-06-23T20:49:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T01:49:54","slug":"noise-junk-rubbish-smoking-and-solar-project-discussed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/06\/23\/noise-junk-rubbish-smoking-and-solar-project-discussed\/","title":{"rendered":"Noise, junk\/rubbish, smoking and solar project discussed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nearly all of Van Wert City Council’s most recent meeting was centered around discusssion of various topics. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a lot of talk but not a lot of action during Monday\u2019s meeting of Van Wert City Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, was primarily discussion-based around four topics \u2013 a potential new noise ordinance, possible amendments to the city\u2019s existing junk and rubbish laws, smoking in parks, and a long-term lease for a solar project. The discussion set the table for possible action at future meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councilman At-Large Hall Block presented fellow council members with a possible noise ordinance that would include such things as loud music, loud vehicles, early morning lawn mowing, and possibly yelling. While some things are already covered under an existing ordinance, Block said his proposed legislation would clean up and expand the existing law and would cover industrial and data center noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something that people have been worried about and I\u2019d like to give them some confidence that we can hold people accountable if there\u2019s undue noise,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Fourth Ward Councilman Eric Hurless said he believes the ordinance should include a decibel level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that would hold up in court better if it got that far, because then it\u2019s not subjective, it\u2019s objective,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Law Director John Hatcher noted that very few noise ordinance violations end up in court, adding that he\u2019s seen less than 10 in 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed ordinance also included vibration levels, which seemed to draw a lukewarm response, with questions on how to enforce vibrations caused by trains, certain events at the county fair, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 30-minute discussion ended with Block saying he would make revisions to his proposal and re-submit it for consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the topic of junk and rubbish laws, in cases of rental properties, First Ward Councilman Jeff Agler suggested notifying notifying not only the renter but the property owner simultaneously, which could speed up the clean-up process. Other changes and additions would include making the definition of \u201cjunk\u201d more clear, and expanded visibility standards. Over the last couple of years, the city has put an emphasis on enforcing junk and rubbish laws. Usually, potential violations are fixed before getting to court. More discussion and potential council action is expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should smoking be permitted in city parks? Smoking marijuana on any city owned property is strictly prohibited but no city ordinance seems to address smoking tobacco products in parks. Block believes it\u2019s time for the city to enact a formal ban on it as soon as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that somebody should be able to inhibit somebody else\u2019s use of the park because they are smoking around them,\u201d Block stated. \u201cThis is a no-nonense, bare minimum issue. I don\u2019t understand why we would not ban smoking in parks \u2013 that\u2019s crazy to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Block then made a motion to have legislation prepared for the next meeting and council agreed by a 6-1 vote, with Hurless casting the lone \u201cno\u201d vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council members also discussed a proposed 30-year solar project lease with Butterfly Meadows. The lease would cover 38 acres of city owned farmland off of U.S. 127. If the project moves forward, the 38 acres would be a very small part of the project. Overall, it would occupy approximately 4,000 acres of land in Hoaglin, Union and Pleasant townships. If ultimately approved at the state level, construction would likely begin in 2028. A vote could come at a future meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next meeting of Van Wert City Council will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 13, in Council Chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 515 E. Main St. Council meetings are usually streamed live on the city\u2019s website and then archived for on-demand viewing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor There was a lot of talk but not a lot of action during Monday\u2019s meeting of Van Wert City Council. The meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, was primarily discussion-based around four topics \u2013 a potential new noise ordinance, possible amendments to the city\u2019s existing junk and rubbish laws, smoking in parks, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-topstory"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-01 14:24:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207218"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207223,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207218\/revisions\/207223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}