Valparaiso parks officials are researching how to make music at Central Park quieter in light of the new ordinance designating a quiet zone downtown.

Also of concern is how to deal with uninvited guests when people rent the park for private events, Park Superintendent Kevin Nuppnau told the Park Board last week.

The latter became an issue when people who objected to the recent pride event at the park showed up.

“The renters wanted them to be removed; however, we had no legal grounds to remove them from the event, the city public space, so we’re trying to understand what legal grounds we might have,” Nuppnau said. He wants to determine how to protect renters and be humane to people who are expressing themselves in a free, open, public scenario.

The pride event wasn’t ticketed.

Nuppnau said he hopes to find a way to enforce a policy if there’s a public safety issue or if it disturbs the nature of the event.

He also wants people not invited to an event to not be disturbed by the amplified music played there.

Nuppnau said some have questioned why Central Park isn’t following the noise ordinance.

The parks department doesn’t have restrictions on how loud the sound can be.With a series of events at the park having amplified music soon after last week’s Park Board meeting, Nuppnau planned to have park staff take readings from the events at multiple locations downtown to see how loud the sound is at different points.

He’s also consulting an audio engineer to see how the placement of speakers affects the sound by bouncing off various buildings.

No loud music is allowed after 10 p.m.

“It’s important to understand the value of that music to the downtown businesses because I think that’s a draw,” Nuppnau said. “It has economic impact.”

“But certainly, I don’t want to disturb residents that might be nearby and have them have a poor quality of life because of that,” he added.

Councilwoman Diana Reed, D-1st, said the idea is to make the experience comfortable for outdoor dining and others. “I think there were some protest events that were going on as well that might be kind of problematic,” she said.

“I believe there have been some vehicular issues with various noises that they are making,” Reed added.

In other news, Nuppnau said a 1999 plan for updates to the district’s legacy parks is being refreshed. Kirchhoff and Tower parks are up first, with a landscape architect hired to update the concepts. “We’re excited to start on these two,” he said.

The 122-acre Rogers Lakewood Park, which now has a gate at the entrance to charge admission year-round, is also high on the list, he said.

Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.