COEUR d’ALENE — Tish and John Deus live in the upper level of Coeur d’Alene North Condominiums across from City Park and the Museum of North Idaho. With great views from their balcony and the downtown location, they enjoy living there.

But there’s one problem.

“The noise emanating from speeding traffic and loud engines on Northwest Boulevard between Lakeside Ave. and N. Government Way is outrageously loud,” John Deus wrote on Thursday. “This is especially true on weekends and weekend evenings.”

So loud are the motors and mufflers John and Tish Deus can't carry on conversations in their living room or during meals in the dining room without closing windows and patio doors.

They even installed sound-dampening windows and patio doors to reduce the racket, which helped a little, but not enough.

“Spending an evening on our balcony can be painfully uncomfortable because of the traffic noise,” Deus wrote.

Deus and other residents of Coeur d’Alene North Condominiums and neighboring One Lakeside are calling on the city “to take serious, constructive steps to mitigate the intolerable noise and unsafe speeds they experience emanating from the stretch of Northwest Boulevard.”

The city is listening.

“We are working on that project, " City Administrator Troy Tymesen told the City Council.

City Attorney Randy Adams said the city has an ordinance on excessive noise caused by motor vehicles, which is in Chapter 10.80 of the Municipal Code.

It prohibits, “The operation of any automobile, motorcycle, other vehicle, engine or motor of any size, device, or thing in such a manner as to create any loud, unnecessary, or unusual noise that is excessive, disruptive, and/or annoying to a person of reasonable sensitivities.”

As it's difficult to enforce, Adams said the city is looking to amend the chapter. It wants to provide additional clarity on prohibited conduct, such as is provided in a Boise ordinance and state law, specifically dealing with mufflers and noise suppression systems, and alteration of those systems, as well as excessive exhaust and fumes.

The exact language is being developed with input from the prosecutor’s office and the police department, Adams said.

The amendments will also propose an increase in the infraction penalty to $300 from $100, and would also make second and subsequent offenses within one year a misdemeanor.

Earlier this year, the Boise City Council passed amendments to three Boise city codes to help calm downtown traffic and deter certain behaviors.

“Dangerous driving behaviors coupled with loud noises and modified exhausts on vehicles have caused significant safety concerns and quality of life issues for those living, working, and enjoying downtown,” said Capt., Mike Ruffalo, community outreach division, in a press release.

One of the changes includes new language in the Motor Vehicle Noise Ordinance that addresses drivers who unnecessarily rev their engines creating noise that can be heard 50 feet away. The violation applies to moving, stopped, and parked vehicles.

Additional changes address modified exhaust systems which result in excessive smoke from vehicles, loud engines, as well as loud popping sounds.

“Boise Police officers have spent years writing citations for drivers with a modified exhaust but the $67 fine has not deterred many drivers from being repeat offenders," the release said, so the fine was increased to $356.50.

Ed Hatter of Coeur d’Alene applauded Boise’s “leadership and courage” on the issue and wants Coeur d’Alene to follow suit.

“Let’s stop kicking the can down the road,” Hatter wrote in a June 11 letter to the editor published in The Press. “Now is the time for the Coeur d’Alene City Council, Police Department, City Manager and Mayor to do the right thing, and seriously address this ongoing problem. We want visitors to enjoy a meal at an outside dining restaurant without having to stop talking every few minutes because of noisy cars. We want downtown residents to enjoy their homes without constant noise.”

Deus and Ken Edwards, who also lives at Coeur d’Alene North Condominiums, said the problem area of Northwest Boulevard is short, about a third of a mile, from First Avenue to the traffic lights at Garden Avenue. That's where the speed limit changes from 25 to 35 mph.

Edwards and Deus said drivers leaving downtown via Sherman Avenue or Lakeside Avenue make a slight right turn just past First Street. Some of them, if they see green traffic lights ahead, "treat Northwest Boulevard like a drag strip and race up the boulevard. “

“Their roaring car and motorcycle engines create the intolerable noise for condominium residents,” Edwards wrote.

Janice Dailey agrees it's a problem.

She lives on the 14th floor at One Lakeside and said she hears “constant car noise” including mufflers, engines and screeching tires.

She said there have about 50 such loud sounds every night, from mid-June to Labor Day weekend.

“When we go up there, we have guests, it's obnoxious,” she Dailey told the City Council.

“I just wondered if you’re going to do anything about it,” she said, adding she would like to help initiate the process.

Adams said the proposed amendments to the noise ordinance may be presented to the City Council before the end of the year.