Coeur d'Alene revisits loud vehicle crackdown downtown

Sherman Avenue’s patios, balconies and storefronts have become the front line in Coeur d’Alene’s latest effort to quiet loud vehicles downtown. City leaders were revisiting a problem that has not gone away despite a tougher 2024 ordinance, as residents and business owners continued to say revving engines and screeching tires were driving people indoors.

The city council approved Council Bill 24-1002 on March 5, 2024, amending Chapter 10.80 of the municipal code and retitling it “Noise and Exhaust.” The changes expanded the code to cover excessive fumes, smoke, exhaust and noise from motor vehicles, and raised the fine for excessive car or engine noise from $100 to $300. The goal was to give police a stronger tool against a complaint that has long mixed public nuisance, downtown nightlife and neighborhood livability.

Even with those changes, the issue remained active. The Coeur d’Alene Police Department issued 25 citations for noise violations in 2022 under state statute and city ordinance, and police later said the new law produced early improvement before complaints climbed again. By Aug. 31, 2025, Chief Lee White said officers had made 230 vehicle-noise-related contacts through July 31, most of them downtown, a sign the problem was still showing up in the blocks where residents, diners and shoppers overlap.

At the March 5, 2024 council meeting, Police Captain Jeff Walther placed vehicle noise alongside other downtown enforcement problems, including alcohol-related incidents, fights, property damage, thefts, gang activity and juvenile issues. That framing matters because city leaders are not just dealing with one noisy street race at a time. They are trying to manage a core business district where late-night activity can help restaurants and bars, but also push away people who live nearby or want to linger outside after dark.

Downtown residents said the noise forced them to close windows, leave balconies and stop conversations at restaurants. Some suggested permanent radar-activated speed display signs and camera-based enforcement, ideas aimed at making the crackdown more visible and more measurable on the street rather than only in the code book.

The city’s Downtown Core Working Group has also been evaluating amendments to downtown development regulations and design guidelines to reflect growth pressures and community values. That puts the noise debate inside a broader question Coeur d’Alene keeps facing: how to keep downtown lively enough to draw crowds without making Sherman Avenue and the blocks around it feel unlivable for the people who spend the most time there.