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Listen up, Inverness: You'll soon need to pipe down by 10 p.m.

By JORGE SANCHEZ
Published February 8, 2007

INVERNESS - If you're planning on playing loud music in the city, be sure your neighbors can't hear it after 10 p.m.

A proposed noise ordinance passed its first hurdle Tuesday night and appears headed for approval by the City Council later this month.

The noise ordinance prohibits "continued raucous noise" that someone can hear from 50 feet after 10 p.m.

"Music is noise," City Manager Frank DiGiovanni said.

It also includes yelling, singing or playing a radio or television too loudly.

"We tried not to get too heavy-handed about this," DiGiovanni said Wednesday, a day after the council meeting.

"We shied away from decibels and just focused on a time element."

Raucousness can resume after 7 a.m. the following day, according to the proposed ordinance.

Also Tuesday, the council:

- Agreed to provide water to the Florida Governmental Utility Authority so it can get it to 11 homes in Gospel Island Estates.

The FGUA well in that area is failing and the water quality is poor, council members said. The city will sell water in bulk to FGUA, which in turn would re-sell to its customers.

The council may pay to lay a larger water pipe in case other residents on Gospel Island Road request service later.

- Approved a long-standing lease renewal to state Rep. Charles Dean for $250 a year for a cow pasture near the city water plant on Pleasant Grove Road.

Dean provided the council with a copy of a $300,000 insurance policy.

- Heard farewell remarks from council members John Sullivan and Marc Wigmore. Sullivan is retiring after 12 years and Wigmore after four years.

Contact Jorge Sanchez at sanchez@sptimes.com or 860-7313 in Citrus or toll-free at 1800 333-7505, ext. 7313 .

[Last modified February 7, 2007, 20:59:16]