[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Catasauqua 12-5-1977 by Ord. No. 754 (Ch. V, Part
3, of the 1962 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
The following definitions shall apply to the
interpretation of the provisions of this chapter:
The following:
An area where offices, clinics and the facilities
needed to serve them are located;
An area with local shopping and service establishments;
A tourist-oriented area where hotels, motels
and gasoline stations are located;
A business strip along a main street containing
offices, retail businesses and commercial enterprises;
Other commercial enterprises and activities
which do not involve the manufacturing, processing or fabrication
of any commodity.
Includes, but is not limited to, any parcel
of land zoned commercial under the Zoning Ordinance of the Borough.[1]
Includes the use, operation or maintenance of any sound-amplifying
equipment for the purpose of advertising any business, any goods or
any services, or for the purpose of attracting the attention of the
public to, or advertising for or soliciting the patronage of customers
to or for any performance, show, entertainment, exhibition or event,
or for the purpose of demonstrating any such sound equipment.
Any and all activity incidental to the erection, demolition,
assembling, altering, installing or equipping of buildings, structures,
roads or appurtenances thereto, including land clearing, grading,
excavating and filling.
A steady, fluctuating, or impulsive noise which exists, essentially
without interruption, for a period of 10 minutes or more, with an
accumulation of an hour or more over a period of eight hours.
Any mechanism which is intended to produce or which actually
produces sound when operated or handled.
A device used primarily on trucks for the conversion of the
motor from an internal combustion engine to an air compressor for
the purpose of braking without the use of wheel brakes.
Work made necessary to restore property to a safe condition
following a public calamity or work required to protect persons or
property from an imminent exposure to danger or potential danger.
The sound pressure level of a fluctuating noise which varies
more than six dB(A) during the period of observation when measured
with the slow meter characteristic of a sound level meter.
An area in which enterprises and activities which involve
the manufacturing, processing or fabrication of any commodity are
located. "Industrial district" shall include, but not be limited to,
any parcel of land zoned as an industrial district, under the Zoning
Ordinance of the Borough.[2]
Any vehicle such as, but not limited to, a passenger vehicle,
truck, track-trailer, trailer or semi-trailer propelled or drawn by
mechanical power and shall include motorcycles, snowmobiles, mini-bikes,
go-carts and any other vehicle which is self-propelled.
An area of single- or multiple-family dwellings and shall
include areas where multiple-unit dwellings, high-rise apartments
and high-density residential districts are located. "Residential district"
shall also include, but is not limited to, hospitals, nursing homes,
homes for the aged, schools, courts and similar institutional facilities.
An instrument or apparatus, including a microphone, an amplifier,
an output meter, and weighting networks, for the measurement of sound
pressure. The output meter reads sound pressure level when properly
calibrated, and the instrument is of Type 2 or better, as specified
in the American National Standards Institute Publication S1.4 - 1971.
It shall be unlawful for any person to willfully
make or continue, or cause to be made or continued, any unnecessary
noise within the Borough.
A.
Use restricted. It shall be unlawful for any person
to use, operate or permit to be played, any radio receiving set, musical
instrument, television, phonograph, drum or other machine or device
for the production or reproduction of sound in such a manner as to
cause to be made or continued any unnecessary noise as heard without
measurement.
B.
Prima facie violation. The operation of any such set,
instrument, television, phonograph, machine or device at any time
in such manner as to be plainly audible at either the property line,
or 25 feet, in the case of a vehicle on public rights-of-way, shall
be prima facie evidence of a violation of this section.
C.
This section shall not apply to any person who is
participating in a school band or in a parade for which a permit has
been issued by the Borough, except during the hours of 10:00 p.m.
to 7:00 a.m.
No person shall keep or maintain or permit the
keeping of, on any premises owned, occupied or controlled by such
person, any animal or bird otherwise permitted to be kept, which by
frequent or habitual howling, barking, meowing, squawking, or other
noise unreasonably disturbs the peace and quiet of any neighborhood
or causes discomfort or annoyance to any person.
No person shall discharge into the open air
the exhaust of any steam engine, stationary internal combustion engine,
air compressor equipment, motorboat, motor vehicle, or other power
device, which is not equipped with an adequate muffler in constant
operation and properly maintained to prevent any unnecessary noise,
and no such muffler or exhaust system shall be modified or used with
a cutoff, bypass or similar device.
Except by permission of the Borough Manager,
the Chief of Police, the Mayor and the Public Safety Committee, no
person shall load any garbage, trash on compactor truck, or any other
truck, whereby the loading, unloading or handling of boxes, crates,
equipment or other objects is conducted within a residential district
nor within 300 feet of any hotel or motel between the hours of 10:00
p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
A.
The maximum permissible sound pressure levels of any
continuous source of sound shall be as herein established for the
time period and district listed in Table A of this section. This includes,
but is not limited to, sound from such activities as production, processing,
cleaning, servicing, testing, operating or repairing either vehicles,
materials, goods, products or devices. Sound pressure levels in excess
of those established for the districts of the Borough in times herewith
listed, shall constitute prima facie evidence that such sound is an
unnecessary noise. Sound pressure levels shall be measured at the
approximate location of the property line or the boundary of the public
way, at a height of at least four feet above the immediate surrounding
surface, on a sound level meter of standard design and operated on
the "A" weighting network.
|
Table A
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Sound Pressure Level Limit
dB(A)
| |||
|
District
|
Day
(7:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.)
|
Night
(10:00 p.m. - 7:00 a.m.)
| |
|
Residential
|
55
|
50
| |
|
Commercial
|
60
|
55
| |
|
Industrial, Special Purpose and Airport Commercial
|
80
|
75
| |
B.
When a noise source can be identified and its noise
measured, in more than one district, the sound pressure level limits
of the most restrictive district shall apply.
D.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to
motor vehicles operating on public rights-of-way; the loading of any
tracks; domestic power equipment and commercial power equipment.
[Amended by 5-6-2002 by Ord. No. 1140]
A.
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, no person
shall engage in, cause or permit any person to be engaged in, construction
activities in any residential or commercial district between the hours
of 9:00 p.m. of one day and 6:00 a.m. of the following day.
B.
Construction projects shall be subject to the maximum
permissible noise level specified for industrial districts for the
periods within which construction is to be completed pursuant to any
applicable building permit.
C.
Construction activities directly connected with the
abatement of an emergency are excluded from the provisions of this
section.
No person shall operate or permit to be operated
on private property or on the public way within any residential or
commercial district(s) any power equipment rated five horsepower or
less and used for home or building repair or grounds maintenance between
the hours of 10:00 p.m. of one day and 6:00 a.m. of the next day or
operate or permit to be operated between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and
10:00 p.m. any such power equipment which emits a noise sound pressure
level in excess of eighty decibels in the "A" weighting network dB(A).
Such power equipment shall include, but not be limited to, lawn mowers,
garden tools, snow removal equipment, electric or chain saws or any
other power equipment used fox home or building repair or grounds
maintenance. Noise sound pressure levels shall be measured at a distance
of 25 feet from the noise source.
No person shall operate on any property within
a residential or commercial district or on any public way within a
residential or commercial district, any power equipment rated more
than live horsepower, excluding construction equipment used for construction
activities, such as but not limited to, chain saws, pavement breakers,
log chippers, riding tractors, powered hand tools, between the hours
of 10:00 p.m. of one day and 7:00 a.m. of the next day or within residential,
commercial or industrial noise districts between the hours, of 7:00
a.m. and 10:00 p.m. which emits a noise level in excess of 88 decibels,
in the "A" weighting network dB(A). Noise sound pressure levels shall
be measured at a distance of 25 feet from the noise source.
[Amended by 5-6-2002 by Ord. No. 1140]
The commercial and noncommercial use of sound
amplifying equipment shall be subject to the following regulations:
A.
Except by the permission of the Borough, sound amplifying
equipment shall be operated only between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and
6:00 p.m. of each day.
B.
The maximum sound emanating from sound amplifying equipment shall not exceed the sound pressure levels established in § 185-1 as measured at least 25 feet from the noise source.
C.
In any event, the intensity of sound shall be so controlled
that it will not be unreasonably loud, raucous, annoying, disturbing
or a nuisance to any person or persons.
No person shall sound any horn or signaling
device on any truck, automobile, motorcycle, or other vehicle on any
street or highway within this municipality, except as a danger warning,
and then only for a reasonable period of time.
Noise caused in the performance of emergency
work for the immediate safety, health or welfare of the community
or individuals of the community, or to restore property to a safe
condition following a public calamity shall not be subject to the
provisions of this chapter.
[Amended 4-1-2013 by Ord. No. 1288]
Any person, firm or corporation violating any
provision of this chapter shall be fined up to $300 and, in default
of payment of fine, be imprisoned up to 90 days for each offense;
and a separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day during
or on which a violation occurs or continues. Any person found guilty
of violating an ordinance shall be assessed court costs and reasonable
attorneys’ fees incurred by the Borough in the enforcement proceedings.
