With blowback coming from business owners who were recently told to turn off their music until reports on how to mitigate excessive sound levels were completed, Asbury Park city council members are now looking to ease up on those rules.

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A press release on the city's website indicates that the council will be looking at ways to soften the language in its Central Business District Plan, which covers a number of businesses in the downtown area.

Under the plan, businesses are legally bound to submit sound mitigation reports to the city if they plan to provide or host music, either live or recorded. But many had not done so, according to an investigation prompted by a new business owner who was asked to conduct a report, and who in turn asked officials about the report status of neighboring establishments.

"Over the years they might have put music indoors or music outdoors, but we never had the enforcement capabilities to find this," city manager Michael Capabianco said in the release. "We agree that it's a bad regulation, and we have to follow the legal timeline in fixing it, but we'll fix it."

Capabianco and other city leaders are also in agreement that the request to turn music off in the absence of a completed report is applied too broadly, on anything from live concerts down to background noise coming out of a speaker. Soundproofing venues that are deficient in that area, whether reports are filed, remains the top priority for the city.

Recommended changes were to have been presented at a workshop meeting Monday night, with a vote on the amendments expected Wednesday night.

Patrick Lavery produces "New Jersey's First News" and is New Jersey 101.5's morning drive breaking news reporter. Follow him on Twitter @plavery1015 or email patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com.

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