[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Council of the Township
of Upper Darby 9-18-2019 by Ord.
No. 3060. Amendments noted where applicable.]
All terminology used in this chapter and not defined herein
shall be in conformance with applicable publications of the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) or its successor body. As used
in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated
in this section:
The sound pressure level as measured in decibels on a sound
level meter using the A-weighting network. The level so read shall
be designated dB(A) or dBA.
The sound pressure level of the all-encompassing noise associated
with a given environment, being usually a composite of sounds from
many sources, and/or the A-weighted sound pressure level exceeded
90% of the time/L90, based on a one-hour period.
A steady, fluctuating or impact noise which exists, essentially
without interruptions, for a period of one hour or more.
A steady, fluctuating or impulsive noise which may or may
not contain a pure tone, which varies in sound pressure level such
that the same level is obtained repetitively at reasonably uniform
intervals of time.
A logarithmic (dimensionless) unit of measure often used
in describing the amplitude of sound. Decibel is denoted as "dB."
Any municipal agency.
Any mechanism which is intended to produce or which actually
amplifies or produces noise when operated or handled.
A motor vehicle used in response to a public calamity or
to protect persons or property from imminent danger.
Work made necessary to restore property to a safe condition
following a public calamity, work to restore public utilities or work
required to protect persons or property from an imminent exposure
to danger.
The sound pressure level of a "fluctuating noise" varies
more than six dB(A) during the period of observation when measured
with the slow meter characteristic of a sound level meter and does
not equal the previously existing ambient noise level more than once
during the period of observation.
Any vehicle which is propelled or drawn by mechanical equipment,
such as but not limited to passenger cars, trucks, truck-trailers,
semitrailers, campers, motorcycles, minibikes, go-carts, snowmobiles,
amphibious craft on land, dune buggies or racing vehicles.
Any apparatus consisting of baffles, chambers of acoustical
absorbing materials, whose primary purpose is to transmit liquids
or gases while causing a reduction in sound emission at one end.
Any sound which is unwanted or which causes or tends to cause
an adverse psychological effect on human beings.
A physical barrier for deflecting, checking or otherwise
regulating the flow of noise.
Any sound which annoys, disturbs or perturbs reasonable persons
with normal sensitivities; or any sound which injures or endangers
the comfort, repose, health, hearing, peace or safety of other persons.
This definition does not apply to the content of words or speech in
themselves as a disturbance.
Any individual, association, partnership or corporation and
includes any officer, employee, department, agency or instrumentality
of the United States, a state or any political subdivision of that
state.
Any noise for which the information content of that noise
is unambiguously communicated to the listener, such as but not limited
to understandable spoken speech or comprehensive rhythms.
Upper Darby Township Police Department.
Any powered vehicles, either airborne or landborne, which
are not designed to carry persons or property, such as but not limited
to model airplanes, boats, cars or rockets and which can be propelled
by mechanical means.
Any imaginary line at the ground surface, which line separates
the real property owned by one person from that owned by another person
and its vertical extension.
Any street, avenue, boulevard, highway, alley or similar
place which is owned or controlled by a public government entity.
Any noise which can be distinctly heard as a single pitch
or a set of single pitches. For the purposes of measurement, a "pure
tone" shall exist if the one-third octave band sound pressure level
is the band which the tone exceeds the arithmetic average of the sound
pressure levels of the two contiguous one-third octave bands by five
dB for frequencies of 500 hertz and above, by eight dB for frequencies
between 160 and 400 hertz and by 15 dB for frequencies less than or
equal to 125 hertz.
Any noise which is composed of impulsive noises that are
repeated at sufficiently slow rates such that a sound level meter
set at fast meter characteristic will show changes in sound pressure
level greater than two dB(A).
A temporal and spatial oscillation in pressure or other physical
quantity in a medium with internal forces that causes compression
and rarefaction of that medium and that propagates at finite speed
to distant points.
An instrument, which includes a microphone, amplifier, RMS
detector, integrator or time averager, output meter and weighting
networks, used to measure sound pressure levels.
The instantaneous difference between the actual pressure
and the average or barometric pressure at a given point in space.
Any device, excluding those attached to motor vehicles, used
to alert persons engaged in emergency operations. These include, but
are not limited to, firefighters, first aid squad members and law
enforcement officers, whether paid or volunteer.
Any device, fixed or movable, which is located or used on
geographically defined real property other than a public right-of-way.
A sound pressure level which remains essentially constant
during the period of observation, i.e., the fluctuations are too small
to meet the criterion for fluctuating noise.
Prevailing time, Eastern standard or Daylight saving time.
Upper Darby Township, the Upper Darby Township Mayor or a
department head.
Upper Darby Township Zoning Ordinance; Chapter 550, Zoning, of this Code.
It shall be the duty and responsibility and/or in between the
employees of the Upper Darby Police Department, the Township Health
Officer and the Department of Licenses and Inspections, or an employee
directly assigned by the Mayor, to enforce the provisions of this
chapter.
A violation of this chapter shall be cause for summons and complaint
to be issued forthwith; provided, however, that if the noise source
is not a motor vehicle moving on a public right-of-way, in lieu of
a summons and complaint, enforcement personnel may issue a notice,
in writing, which may be served personally or by certified mail to
the last known address of the person or persons in charge of or in
control of the device, building or premises. The notice shall state
the nature of the violation and a specific time period for the correction
and abatement of the violation. Failure to comply with the notice
issued shall constitute a violation of this chapter.
In order to implement the purposes of this chapter, the Township's
Police Department, Health Officer and/or Director of Licenses and
Inspections shall have the following powers:
It shall be unlawful for any person to make, continue to cause
to be made, or continue or cause any excessive or unusually loud noise
which creates a noise disturbance within the limits of Upper Darby
Township.
The following acts, among others, are declared to be loud, disturbing or excessive noise and/or noise disturbance in violation of this chapter, but said enumeration shall not be deemed to be exclusive. Any violation shall be determined based on the sound levels set forth in § 373-7.
A.Â
Horns and signaling devices. The sounding of any horn or signaling
device on any motor vehicle except as a danger warning signal or as
provided in the Vehicle Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
B.Â
Radios, television sets, speakers, amplifiers and similar devices.
(1)Â
Operating or permitting the use or operation of any radio receiving
set, musical instrument, television, phonograph, drum or other device
for the production or reproduction of sound in such manner as to cause
a noise disturbance; or
(2)Â
Operating any such device between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00
a.m. the following day in such a manner as to be plainly audible across
real property boundaries or through partitions common to two parties
within a building and plainly audible at 50 feet from such device
when operated within a motor vehicle parked on a public right-of-way
or on a public space.
C.Â
Exterior loudspeakers. Using or operating any audible electronic
device or loudspeaker in a fixed or movable position exterior to any
building or mounted upon any vehicle or structure is hereby prohibited
from all commercial or industrial establishments.
(1)Â
Interior loudspeakers, which emit noise levels to any area outside of the building of the commercial or industrial establishment and which exceed the limits set forth in § 373-7 in Table 1 herein shall be prohibited.
(2)Â
Failure to close movable building parts, including, but not limited
to, open windows, open garage doors, open hanger doors and other like
building parts or any openings which enable noise to escape the structure,
in the operation of interior loudspeakers, if such continuous opening
contributes in any manner to the violation of this section, shall,
after notification by the Code Enforcement Officer or other enforcement
personnel, be a separate violation subject to the penalties imposed
by other Township ordinances.
D.Â
Animals. Owning, keeping, possessing or harboring any animal or animals
which, by frequent or habitual howling, barking, meowing, squawking
or other noisemaking, shall cause a noise disturbance. The provisions
of this section shall also apply to all private or public facilities,
including any animal pounds which hold or treat animals.
E.Â
Loading operations. Loading, unloading, opening or otherwise handling
boxes, crates, containers, garbage cans or other similar objects between
the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. the following day in such a
manner as to cause a noise disturbance.
F.Â
Construction noise. Operating or causing to be operated any equipment
used in construction, repair, alteration or demolition work on buildings,
structures, streets, alleys or appurtenances thereto in any land use
category between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. the following
day.
G.Â
Vehicle repairs or testing. Repairing, rebuilding, modifying or testing any motor vehicle, off-road vehicle or motorboat in or near a residential use district in such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance or violate the provisions of § 373-7 Table 1.
H.Â
Powered model vehicles. Operating or permitting the operation of powered model vehicles between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. the following morning. Maximum sound pressure levels during the permitted period of operation shall conform to those set forth in § 373-8 Table II and shall be measured at the property boundary of the source. Powered model vehicles shall not be operated on public property.
I.Â
Refuse-compacting vehicles. The operating or permitting the operation of any motor vehicle which can compact refuse and which creates, during the compacting cycle, a disturbing noise between the hours of 9:30 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. the following day in any zoning district identified in Chapter 550, Zoning, as Traditional Neighborhood Commercial (C-1), Traditional General Commercial (C-2), Traditional General Commercial (C-3) and Commercial Industrial (C-4) and Recreation (REC) Districts, if an establishment therein abuts within 100 feet of a property zoned residential (R-C, RC-1, R-1, R-2, R-3 and R-4) upon which there is a residence building.
J.Â
Bells and alarms. The sounding or permitting the sounding of any
exterior burglar alarm on any building or motor vehicle unless such
burglar alarm shall terminate its operating within 15 minutes of its
being activated.
K.Â
Stationary emergency signaling devices. Testing of only the electromechanical
functioning of a stationary emergency signaling device shall occur
at the same time each day that a test is performed, but not before
8:00 a.m. or after 6:00 p.m. Any such testing shall only use the minimum
cycle test time.
L.Â
Motorized parking lot sweepers. The operating or permitting of the operation of any motor vehicle or motor-driven equipment which is designed to collect refuse by rotating broom, vacuum, blower or other method requiring mechanical operation and which creates during the collection cycle or operation a disturbing noise between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. the following day in a C-1, C-2, C-3, C-4 or REC District, as defined in Chapter 550, Zoning, of this Code.
M.Â
Idling motor vehicle engines.
(1)Â
Operating or permitting the operation of a commercial motor vehicle engaged in the process of loading or unloading (or standing or parked in anticipation thereof or following the same) and allowing the engine of the motor vehicle to idle or otherwise run unnecessarily when vehicle is standing motionless (even though the noise generated may measure less than provided by § 373-8 Table II. An exception is made for a motor vehicle which uses its engine as the main source of power for adjunct refrigeration equipment designed for the preservation of food products being delivered.
A.Â
It shall be unlawful for any person to operate or permit to be operated
any stationary source of noise in such a manner as to create a sound
pressure level which exceeds the limits set forth for the receiving
land use (land use category) in Table I below when measured at the
property boundary. When a noise source can be identified and its noise
measured in more than one land use category, the limits of the most
restrictive use shall apply at the boundaries between different land
use categories.
B.Â
For any source of sound which emits a pure tone or impulsive sound,
the maximum sound level limits set forth in Table I shall be reduced
by five dB(A).
|
Table I
| ||
|---|---|---|
|
Receiving Land Use Category
|
Time
|
Sound Pressure Level Limit
[dB(A)]
|
|
RC, RC-1, R-1 R-2, R-3
|
8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
|
55
|
|
R-4, REC
|
10:00 p.m. - 8:00 a.m.
|
50
|
|
C-1
|
At all times
|
60
|
|
C-2
|
At all times
|
60
|
|
C-3
|
At all times
|
60
|
|
C-4
|
At all times
|
65
|
No person shall operate a motor vehicle on a public right-of-way
at any time in such manner that the sound pressure level emitted by
said vehicle exceeds the levels set forth in Table II when measured
at the location. This section shall apply to all motor vehicles, whether
publicly or privately owned, that are duly licensed.
|
Table II
| ||
|---|---|---|
|
Sound Pressure Level [dB(A)]
| ||
|
Speed Limit
|
Speed Limit
| |
|
Vehicle Class
|
35 mph or less
|
35 mph or more
|
|
Federally registered interstate motor carrier
|
86
|
90
|
|
All other motor vehicles with manufacturer's gross vehicle
rating of 10,000 pounds or more and any combination of vehicles towed
by such motor vehicle
|
92
|
96
|
|
Motorcycles
|
88
|
92
|
|
Any other motor vehicle and any combination of vehicles towed
by such motor vehicle
|
82
|
88
|
The standard measurement height shall be four feet (1.2 meters) and the standard horizontal measurement distance from the center line of the traffic lane being monitored shall be 50 feet (15 meters). Whenever it is not feasible to use 50 feet, the distance may be shortened to 25 feet (7.5 meters), in which case the values of Table II of § 373-8 shall be increased by six dBA.
No person shall operate or cause to be operated any motorized vehicle off a public right-of-way in such a manner that the sound pressure level therefrom exceeds those stated in Table I of § 373-7B when measured at the property line. Recreational motorized vehicles shall not be operated in public parks.
A.Â
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. Nothing in
the section shall be construed to permit law enforcement, ambulance,
fire or other emergency personnel to make excessive noise in the performance
of their duties when such noise is clearly unnecessary. The use of
stationary emergency signaling devices shall be for emergency use
only.
B.Â
The Township administration may grant specific and temporary exceptions
to the provisions of this chapter upon receipt of a written application
requesting such exception. The application shall state the nature
of the violation and the reason for the request. No exceptions shall
be granted for a period exceeding one year from the date of the request.
Any person affected by any noise source for which an application for
exception has been filed may also submit information to the Township
administration in favor of or in opposition to the proposed exception.
Failure of any person to comply with the sections of this chapter
shall constitute an offense punishable by a citation.
The operation or maintenance of any noise source in violation
of any provision of this chapter shall be deemed and is declared to
be a public nuisance and may be subject to abatement summarily by
a restraining order or injunction issued by a court of competent jurisdiction
or in any other manner available for the abatement of public nuisances.
A.Â
Any remedy available pursuant to this chapter shall be considered
separate and not exclusive of any other remedy available hereunder.
B.Â
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to impair any cause of
action or legal remedy therefor of any person for injury or damage
arising from any violation of this chapter.
This chapter shall become effective immediately after enactment
according to law and shall remain in effect hereafter until revised,
amended or revoked by action of Upper Darby Township.
Any ordinance or part of an ordinance to the extent that it
is inconsistent herewith is hereby repealed.
