Stanislaus County Supervisors Watch

By unanimous vote Tuesday, Stanislaus County supervisors:

• Approved a noise ordinance aimed mostly at blaring music that offends neighbors. The new rules enable sheriff's deputies to measure noises using special instruments and issue citations with fines of $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second and $400 for subsequent violations. Specifically outlawed are loud music after 10 p.m., power tools before 6 a.m. and landscaping machines before 7 a.m.; car stereos that can be heard 50 feet away; and home and vehicle alarms sounding longer than 15 minutes. The ordinance excuses farming noises, garbage trucks and emergency vehicle sirens as well as parades and fireworks displays with permits. The ordinance addresses only unincorporated communities. Cities have their own rules.

• Agreed with a compromise allowing Patterson's Del Puerto Health Center to move to Keystone Pacific Business Park. The park's owner is pursuing a ballot initiative supporting the move while City Hall sued to block it, saying it would run afoul of zoning laws. Patterson planning commissioners last week approved the compromise, which would cancel the citywide vote and lawsuit, but final say rests with the City Council, which will take up the matter Feb. 2. Whether state law requires an expensive environmental review might be a sticking point.

• Lowered the speed limit at the eastern approach to Patterson from 55 mph to 45 mph, along Las Palmas Avenue from Elm Avenue to the city limit west of Sycamore Avenue

• Approved a $17,200 gift from the Passages Program that sent 38 youngsters to summer camp. The July donation allowed at-risk children linked with the county's mental health system to attend the YMCA's Camp Jack Hazard in the high Sierra. Gifts of more than $10,000 must be reported to county supervisors; the county's auditor-controller detected it in October.

• Agreed to support a statewide initiative restricting the ability of state leaders to take locally generated tax money