Fort Worth considers noise crackdown on 7th Street, ‘accreditation’ for bar owners
The city of Fort Worth is considering some rule changes as well as gentle nudges to improve safety and cut down on noise complaints in the West 7th entertainment district.
The suggestions came from two presentations at a March 4 city council work session meeting.
When it comes to noise, the city wants to reduce the hours on weekends bars, clubs and restaurants can play music up to 80 decibels — roughly the sound of a power lawn mower, according to an April 2024 city presentation.
Currently, those businesses can play music up to 80 decibels until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, but city staff is suggesting cutting the hours back to midnight.
The city also wants to limit devices that create “any ground vibration that is perceptible without instruments,” according to a city report outlining the changes.
This would cut down on loud bass vibrations that can shake windows in the residences just east of the West 7th District.
Fort Worth police have sound meters to measure decibel levels to enforce the city’s noise ordinance, but the change for vibrations would require whoever called in the complaint to be a witness when the police write the citation, said Deputy City Attorney Melinda Ramos, speaking at the council work session.
Council Member Elizabeth Beck, whose district includes West 7th, questioned whether the city needed a more objective metric like the sound meters to enforce the vibration changes. Ramos noted that city rules don’t require a sound meter reading if there’s someone willing to act as a witness.
The council could vote on the new sound rules by the end of April, Ramos said.
When it comes to safety, Assistant Police Chief Robert Alldredge said the city is working with bar owners to create an accreditation program that would signify that establishments had met a series of best practices.
Some bar owners had expressed concerns the program would be mandatory or would be used as a cudgel by the city to force changes to their businesses, but Alldredge stressed the program would be voluntary and would largely consist of things bars and restaurants already do.
He asked the council to pass a resolution to codify some of the program requirements as a way to ease bar owners’ concerns.
The program is just now getting introduced to the community, so bar owners will dissect it to see the pros and cons, said Chas Taipale, president of the West 7th Restaurant Bar and Retail Association.
Bars are already paying a lot in taxes, so there was a concern the accreditation program was going to pile on an additional expense, he said.
There’s been some miscommunication and misunderstanding between bars and the city, but through discussions about the accreditation program hopefully things will get better, he said.
Alldredge’s recommendations came from an outside study commissioned shortly after the murder of TCU junior Wes Smith, who was shot outside a bar on the 3000 block of Bledsoe Street in September 2023.
The study also looked at recommendations to improve safety in the Stockyards, downtown, and in the Near Southside and Magnolia districts.
Most of the recommendations included increased traffic enforcement and coordination between on-duty and off-duty police officers who may be working security at the bars.
This story was originally published March 4, 2025 at 4:52 PM.
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