Colorado Court of Appeals decisions in Hobbs and Freed

Hobbs v. City of Salida: concluding that local permits for excess noise trump the state’s noise pollution law.

Freed v. Bonfire Entertainment: concluding that the state’s noise pollution law trumps local excess-noise permits.

Different divisions of the Court of Appeals reached these conclusions based on their different interpretation of an exception in the state noise pollution law, C.R.S. § 25-12-103(11), which reads:

This article is not applicable to the use of property by this state, any political subdivision of this state, or any other entity not organized for profit, including, but not limited to, nonprofit corporations, or any of their lessees, licensees, or permittees, for the purpose of promoting, producing, or holding cultural, entertainment, athletic, or patriotic events, including, but not limited to, concerts, music festivals, and fireworks displays.

In Hobbs, the division ruled that this provision authorizes local authorities to issue excess-noise permits even to for-profit companies operating on private property. But Freed disagreed, holding that this provision allows for excess-noise permits only if a public or nonprofit entity is making a use of the property: “[A] private permit holder would not fall under the exemption to put on a qualifying event on private property unless the state, a political subdivision, or another nonprofit uses the property” (p.21). Otherwise, the division reasoned, the entities eligible for excess-noise permits would be “effectively endless” (p.28).