The Lunenburg County Board of Supervisors are expected to soon hold a public hearing on a long-discussed noise ordinance.

The issue is scheduled to be on the agenda at the next meeting.

The proposed ordinance will apparently call for meters to be used to gauge noise — a move requested by the local judge and encouraged by Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Clement.

“We think meters are something we can stand there and get an actual reading” with, County Attorney Frank Rennie told the board during its Thursday, Jan. 7, meeting.

The input of the commonwealth’s attorney prompted supervisor T. Wayne Hoover to encourage his fellow board members to go ahead and hold a public hearing on the proposal that has been developed.

“We’ve got everybody on board,” he said.

Kenbridge and Victoria might be asked to adopt the ordinance, though Victoria changed its noise ordinance in recent months and made sure not to require the use of meters.

The meters can cost from a few hundred to thousands of dollars, Rennie said. The sheriff’s department would hold the meters and they would be issued out, Rennie said.

Just what would and would not be covered in a noise ordinance has been a topic at the supervisor meetings the last several months.

In November, Richard Watson asked the supervisors to update Lunenburg’s noise ordinance after he complained about hearing a neighbor’s music and its obscene lyrics from a quarter-mile away.

Watson said a sheriff’s deputy explained that he could request that the music be turned down, but the issue was not enforceable because the county’s ordinance does not specify a decibel level.

There are other houses with small children that are closer to the house and the music, he said.

He added that if something isn’t done the problem will only get worse as more people move into the county.