By Alexander Bissell
Video Editor

The San Luis Obispo City Council approved a pilot program that will allow party hosts to register parties with the SLO police department, helping residents avoid steep fines for noise complaints.

The party registration pilot program begins on the first weekend of May.

Following a “Saint Fratty’s Day” accident where eight students were injured due a roof collapsing under the weight of around 50 students, the SLO city council voted to more harshly enforce party fines and ordinances on April 4.

The increased enforcement and the highly interpretative language of the ordinance caused a large backlash from Cal Poly’s inter-fraternity council.

On Jan. 17, the city council voted four to one against expanding the high fine period around Saint Patrick’s day, proposing the party registry. The proposed party registry was to be fine tuned by the police department before its approval on April 4th.

With the new pilot program, a party host – who must be 18 or older – brings a photo ID to the police department at least one week in advance of the party.

Once the party has started and a noise complaint is made, the police department will contact the party host,  informing them that a noise complaint has been made. They will have 20 minutes to quiet down until police officers are deployed.

Once police arrive at the location of the party, the party’s host could then face fines and citations.

Party hosts who choose to forgo the registration process will not face increased fines or citations, but will not receive the initial warning call and if a noise complaint is made. This means officers will immediately be despatched.

The new pilot program will be phased in, starting with parties occurring on the first weekend of May. The Neighborhood Outwatch Manager will be in charge of bringing awareness to the new program for SLO residents and Cal Poly students alike.