[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village
of Old Brookville 5-18-2015 by L.L. No. 1-2015. Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known and cited as the "Noise Control
Code for the Incorporated Village of Old Brookville."
A.
Excessive sound is a serious hazard to the public health, welfare,
safety, and the quality of life.
B.
A substantial body of science and technology exists by which excessive
sound may be substantially abated.
C.
The people have a right to, and should be ensured of, an environment
free from excessive sound.
D.
It is the intent and purpose of this chapter to provide for and ensure
that unnecessary, harmful, annoying, loud and inappropriate noise
shall not disturb the tranquility of the Village and the enjoyment
thereof by the residents or businesses within the Village.
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall
have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise.
The Code Enforcement Officer of the Village of Old Brookville.
Any site preparation, assembly, erection, repair, alteration
or similar action of buildings or structures.
Any dismantling, destruction or removal of buildings, structures,
or roadways.
Any work or action necessary at the site of an emergency
to restore or deliver essential services including, but not limited
to, repairing water, gas, electricity, telephone, sewer facilities,
or public transportation facilities, removing fallen trees on public
rights-of-way, dredging navigational waterways, or abating life-threatening
conditions or a state of emergency declared by a governing agency.
Any vehicle that is propelled other than by human or animal
power on land.
A properly functioning sound-dissipative device or system
for abating the sound on engines or equipment where such device is
part of the normal configuration of the equipment.
A notice of violation.
Any sound that can be detected by the CEO or other person
using his or her unaided hearing faculties of normal acuity. As an
example, if the sound source under investigation is a portable or
vehicular sound amplification or reproduction device, the detection
of the rhythmic bass component of the music is sufficient to verify
plainly audible sound. The CEO or other person need not determine
the title, specific words, or the artist performing the song.
Any street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, sidewalk, alley
or easement that is owned, leased, or controlled by a nongovernmental
entity.
Any street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, sidewalk, alley
or easement that is owned, leased, or controlled by a governmental
entity.
Any real property or structures thereon that are owned, leased,
or controlled by a governmental entity.
The vertical boundary that separates one parcel of property
(i.e., lot and block) from another residential or commercial property.
Any device whose primary function is the production of sound,
including but not limited to any musical instrument, loudspeaker,
radio, television, digital or analog music player, public address
system or sound-amplifying equipment.
Any device, such as a muffler, baffle, shroud, jacket, enclosure,
isolator, or dampener provided by the manufacturer with the equipment,
or that is otherwise required, that mitigates the sound emissions
of the equipment.
Any loud, unnecessary, unusual or annoying, intermittent
or prolonged noise which annoys, destroys, injures or endangers the
comfort, peace, repose, health or safety of a reasonable person of
normal sensitivities. Factors to be considered in determining whether
a sound is an unreasonable noise may include, but are not limited
to, the following:
Any day that is not a federal holiday, and beginning on Monday
at 7:00 a.m. and ending on the following Friday at 6:00 p.m.
Beginning on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and ending on the following
Monday at 7:00 a.m.
A.
This chapter applies to sound emanating from or received at any property
within the Village.
B.
Sound from stationary emergency signaling devices shall be regulated
in accordance with applicable law, except that the testing of the
electromechanical functioning of a stationary emergency signaling
device shall not meet or exceed 10 seconds.
The CEO and/or the police shall have the authority to investigate
suspected violations of any section of this chapter and pursue enforcement
activities. For a first occurrence, in lieu of issuing an appearance
ticket, the CEO or police officer may, in his or her discretion, issue
an NOV to the violator to cease and desist from continuing such noise.
No person shall make or cause to be made or continued, nor shall
any owner, lessee or occupant of any land in the Village permit to
be made or continued on his premises, any unreasonable noise within
the Village. Without limiting the above, violations of the following
provisions are expressly declared to be creating unreasonable noise
within the Village.
A.
Landscaping, construction and commercial activities:
(1)
For residents other than emergency work, power tools, home maintenance
tools, landscaping and/or yard maintenance equipment, or any other
sound-producing equipment shall be used by or caused to be used by
a resident or tenant only between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
on weekdays, or between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays,
and not at all on Sundays and federal holidays, unless such activities
do not produce any sound that can be heard beyond the real property
line. All motorized equipment used in these activities shall be operated
with a muffler and/or sound-reduction device.
(2)
Commercial activity, other than emergency work, including but not
limited to landscaping, excavating, construction, clearing, tree clearing
and wood chipping, shall not be permitted on Saturdays, Sundays, and
holidays, or any time on weekdays between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and
8:00 a.m. of the following day.
(3)
No commercial delivery vehicles are permitted to idle more than 10
minutes between the hours of 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. weekdays nor
at any time on weekends or federal holidays, except for emergencies
as defined herein.
B.
All interior and exterior burglar alarms of a building or motor vehicle
must be activated in such a manner that the burglar alarm terminates
its operation within five minutes for continuous airborne sound and
15 minutes for intermittent sound after it has been activated. If
alarms are in compliance with such time frames, they shall not be
deemed to create unreasonable noise.
C.
Sound-production devices shall not be operated on private property
or on a private right-of-way in such a manner as to be plainly audible
at a point 10 feet beyond the real property line of the property from
which the sound is produced or reproduced between the hours of 8:00
a.m. and 10:00 p.m., or plainly audible at such real property line
between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. Sound-production devices
shall not be operated on a public space or public right-of-way in
such a manner as to be plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet in
any direction from the operator between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and
10:00 p.m. Between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., sound, operated
on a public space or public right-of-way, from such equipment shall
not be plainly audible at a distance of 25 feet in any direction from
the operator.
D.
No property owner or tenant shall allow any domesticated or caged
animal to create a unreasonable noise, or to refuse or intentionally
fail to cease the unreasonable noise when ordered to do so by the
CEO or police. Prima facie evidence of a violation of this section
shall include but not be limited to:
(1)
Howling, yelping, barking, squawking, etc. of any domesticated or
caged animal kept outdoors between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 8:00
a.m., for any duration; or
(2)
Howling, yelping, barking, squawking, etc. of any domesticated or
caged animal at any time that is more or less loud and continuous
for a period exceeding five minutes in duration.
E.
No person shall remove or render inoperative, or cause to be removed
or rendered inoperative or less effective than originally equipped,
other than for the purposes of maintenance, repair, or replacement,
of any device or element of design incorporated in any motor vehicle
for the purpose of noise control. No person shall operate a motor
vehicle or motorcycle which has been so modified. A vehicle not meeting
these requirements shall be deemed in violation of this provision
if it is operated stationary or in motion in any public space or public
right-of-way.
F.
No motorcycle shall be operated stationary or in motion unless it
has a muffler that complies with and is labeled in accordance with
the Federal Noise Regulations under 40 CFR Part 205.
G.
Personal or commercial vehicular music amplification or reproduction
equipment shall not be operated in such a manner that it is plainly
audible at distance of 25 feet in any direction from the operator
between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.
H.
Personal or commercial vehicular music amplification or reproduction
equipment shall not be operated in such a manner that is plainly audible
at a distance of 50 feet in any direction from the operator between
the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.
I.
No person shall intentionally use or operate a motor vehicle in such
a manner as to cause excessive squealing or other excessive noise
of the tires.
No provision of this chapter shall be construed to impair any
common law or statutory cause of action, or legal remedy therefrom,
of any person for injury or damage arising from any violation of this
chapter or from other law.
