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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 1835 - Vehicle Muffler Requirements CITY OF WHEAT RIDGE, COLORADO INTRODUCED BY COUNCIL MEMBER LARSON Council Bill No. 02 Ordinance No. 1835 Series 2026 TITLE: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 13 OF THE WHEAT RIDGE CODE OF LAWS CONCERNING VEHICLE MUFFLER REQUIREMENTS WHEREAS, the City of Wheat Ridge is a home rule municipality having all powers conferred by Article XX of the Colorado Constitution; and WHEREAS, pursuant to its home rule authority and C.R.S. § 31-23-101, the City, acting through its City Council (the “Council”), is authorized to adopt ordinances for the protection of the public health, safety or welfare; and WHEREAS, through the exercise of this authority, the City Council has previously adopted Article V of Chapter 13 of the Code of Laws concerning vehicle emissions; and WHEREAS, the City Council finds that noise produced by motor vehicles with noncompliant, altered, or missing mufflers is injurious to the public health; and WHEREAS, the Council further finds that it is necessary to adopt this ordinance to ensure that proper and compliant vehicle mufflers are used within the City. NOW THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WHEAT RIDGE, COLORADO: Section 1. Article V of Chapter 13 of the Code of Laws is hereby retitled to read: Emissions and vehicle noise. Section 2. Section 13-21 of the Code, concerning definitions, is amended by the addition of the following terms, in their appropriate alphabetical order: • Altered muffler means and includes any muffler which has been altered or replaced to result in a condition which is in any respect, different or substandard to the specifications of the original factory-installed muffler for the particular motor vehicle involved. • Compliant muffler means and includes the original factory-installed muffler on a motor vehicle, or a replacement muffler which conforms in all respects to the specifications of the original factory-installed muffler and section 13-28 of this Code. • Cutout, bypass, or similar device means any device, including but not limited to Hollywood pipes, that allow exhaust gases to bypass the muffler. • Muffler means any apparatus consisting of a series of chambers or other mechanical devise for the purpose of receiving exhaust gases from an internal combustion engine which is designed for the purpose of breaking up the sound tones and the diffusion of smoke and flame emitting therefrom. • Unreasonable noise shall mean any noise which because of its loudness and frequency, while taking into consideration its location and the nature of the typical urban environment, unreasonably disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of reasonable persons of ordinary sensitivity or causes damage to any property or business. Section 3. Article V Chapter 13 is amended by the addition of a new section 13-28, to read as follows: Sec. 13-28 Mufflers prevention of noise. (a) Muffler required. No person shall operate a motor vehicle on public streets or highways within the city without a compliant muffler specific to the vehicle type. It is a violation of this section for any person to operate a motor vehicle within the city unless it is equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent any unreasonable noise, or with an altered muffler, cutout, bypass, or similar device. (b) Muffler modification and sale is prohibited. No person shall sell, install, or use a muffler or exhaust system that has been modified in a manner that will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the motor of such vehicle above that emitted by the original muffler. (c) Enforcement. Citation for violations of this section 13-28 shall be written into the Wheat Ridge Municipal Court. In acting to stop a motorist and in issuing a citation under this section, the law enforcement officer may rely upon their professional judgment, training and experience in determining that the vehicle in question was being operated at a volume greater than normal traffic or similar noise-compliant vehicles, and evidence of the same is admissible. The defendant in each case shall be required to attend at least an initial court appearance on the charge, which appearance may be by video or other virtual means in the discretion of the court. Upon a guilty finding for the violation of this Code section, the municipal court judge shall impose a fine no less than the following amounts: • First violation: $200. • Second violation: $300. • Third and subsequent violations within 12 months: $600. (d) Repair. The municipal judge is authorized in their discretion in addition to or in lieu of the fine set forth above, to require that as a condition of sentence the defendant provide evidence of repair of the subject vehicle to a condition in compliance with this section. If so ordered, such evidence to be provided to the court within 30 days of the date of conviction. Section 4. Severability: Conflicting ordinances repealed. If any section, subsection or clause of this Ordinance shall be deemed to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the validity of the remaining sections, subsections and clauses shall not be affected thereby. All other ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with the provisions of this Ordinance are hereby repealed. Section 5. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall take effect immediately upon adoption at second reading and signature by the Mayor, as permitted by Section 5.11 of the Charter. INTRODUCED, READ, AND ADOPTED on first reading by a vote of 7 to 0 on this 26TH day of January 2026, ordered published in full on the City’s website as provided by the Home Rule Charter, and Public Hearing and consideration on final passage set for February 9, 2026, at 6:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers, 7500 West 29th Avenue, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. READ, ADOPTED AND ORDERED PUBLISHED on second and final reading by a vote of 8 to 0, this 9th day of February 2026. SIGNED by the Mayor on this 10th day of February 2026. ATTEST: Korey Stites, Mayor Onorina Maloney, Interim Senior Deputy City Clerk Approved as to Form: Gerald E. Dahl, City Attorney First Publication: January 27, 2026 Second Publication: February 10, 2026 Effective Date: February 9, 2026 Published: Jeffco Transcript and www.ci.wheatridge.co.us