[1]
Editor's Note: For State Law as to the authority of the Town
Council, see Gen. Laws, 1956 as amended, Title 45, Chapters 6-1 and
6-2.
[Ord. 4/10/80 § 1; Ord. 1/7/16; Ord. 9/22/16]
a.
Excessive noise is a serious hazard to the public health and welfare
and the quality of life in the Town;
b.
A substantial body of science and technology exists by which excessive
noise can be substantially abated without serious inconvenience to
the public;
c.
Noise-producing equipment associated with farming and fishing is
essential to the quality of life herein and should be allowed to continue
at reasonable levels with moderate regulation; and
d.
Each person has the right to an environment reasonably free from
noise which jeopardizes health or welfare or unnecessarily degrades
the quality of life.
e.
It is the declared policy of this Town to promote an environment
free from excessive noise, otherwise properly called noise pollution,
which unnecessarily jeopardizes the health and welfare and degrades
the quality of the lives of the residents of this community, without
unduly prohibiting, limiting or otherwise regulating the function
of certain noise-producing equipment which is not amenable to such
controls and yet is essential to the quality of life in the community.
[Ord. 4/10/80 § 2; Ord. 1/7/16; Ord. 9/22/16]
a.
It shall be unlawful for any person to use, operate, or permit to
be played, used or operated any machine or device whose purpose is
the production or reproduction of music or the human voice in such
manner as to disturb the peace, quiet and comfort of the neighboring
inhabitants or at any time with louder volume than is necessary for
convenient hearing for the persons who are at the site at which such
machine or device is operated and who are voluntary listeners thereto.
b.
Indoors, the operation of any such machine or device between the
hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in such a manner as to be plainly
audible at a distance of 50 feet from the building, structure or vehicle
in which it is located shall be prima facie evidence of a violation
of this section.
c.
Outdoors, the operation of any such machine or device whose purpose
is the production or reproduction of music or the human voice between
the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in such a manner as to be plainly
audible at the boundary line of the property on which it is located
shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this section.
d.
At all hours, in the Residential Zone, the sound produced must not
be disturbing to a person of reasonably sensitive hearing in the accessible
area of their properties. In the event of a dispute of sensibility,
the sound level must not exceed 55 dBA between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00
p.m. (50 dBA between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.) in the accessible area
of their properties.
[Ord. 4/10/80 § 3; Ord. 1/7/16]
It shall be unlawful for any person to operate any noise-creating
blower or power fan or any internal combustion engine, the operation
of which causes noise due to the explosion of operating gases or fluids,
unless the noise from such blower or fan is muffled and such engine
is equipped with a muffler device sufficient to deaden such noise.
[Ord. 1/7/16; amended 12-7-2023]
Any person who violates any provision of this section shall
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall
be warned (first offense), fined not exceeding $100 (second offense),
$200 (third offense), or $500, and revocation or suspension of any
associated license (fourth offense). Each day such violation is committed
or permitted to continue shall constitute a separate offense and shall
be punishable as such, hereunder. This sequence will restart each
calendar year.
[1]
Editor's Note: For State Law as to the authority of the Town
Council, see Gen. Laws, 1956 as amended, Title 45, Chapters 6-1 and
6.2.
[Ord. 4/8/76, § 1]
No person, acting alone or in concert with others, may engage
in conduct which violates any of the following:
a.
Any person who shall act in a violent or tumultuous manner toward
another whereby any person is placed in fear of safety of his life,
limb or health; or
b.
Any person who shall act in a violent or tumultuous manner toward
another whereby the property of any person is placed in danger of
being destroyed or damaged; or
c.
Any person who shall in a public place use "fighting words" or language
or words which by their very utterance inflict injury to or tend to
incite outrage and immediate turmoil; or
d.
Any person who shall use violent and forceful behavior at any time
in or near a public place, such that there is a clear and present
danger that free movement of other persons will be incapacitated in
the lawful exercise of business or amusement; or
e.
Any person who shall cause, provoke or engage in any fight, brawl
or riotous conduct so as to endanger the life, limb, health or property
of another; or
f.
Any person who shall assemble or congregate with another or others
for the purpose of causing, provoking or engaging in any fight or
brawl; or
g.
Any person who shall disturb the peace of others by violent, indecent,
offensive or boisterous conduct or language which said conduct or
language was calculated to cause anguish or injury to another; or
h.
Any person who shall be found roughly crowding or pushing any person
in any public place; or
i.
Any person who shall throw any stone, or any other missile upon or
at any person, vehicle, building or other public or private property;
or
j.
Any person who shall throw any stone or other missile from any vehicle,
either moving, stopped or parked, upon or at any person, building
or other public or private property; or
k.
Any person who shall by acts of violence interfere with another's
pursuit of a lawful occupation; or
l.
Any person who shall urinate, or defecate on any public street, alley,
sidewalk or floor of any public building or a building where the public
gathers or has access; or
m.
Any person who shall wantonly make a false alarm with reference to
the request of fire fighting apparatus, or cries "fire" in any public
place for the sole purpose of causing turmoil; or
n.
Any person who shall prowl or wander upon the private property of
another or peek in the door or window of any inhabited dwelling or
home located upon private property without lawful business with the
owner or occupant thereof; or
o.
Any person who shall congregate with another or others in or on any
public way so as to halt the flow of vehicular or pedestrian traffic
and refuses to clear such public way when ordered to do so by a peace
officer or other person having authority.
[Ord. 4/8/76, § 2; Ord. 6/23/77; amended 12-7-2023]
Enforcement of the provision of this section and order of prosecution
for any violation thereof is vested in the authority of the Chief
of Police. Any person violating any provision of this section shall
be punished by a fine of not more than $250. This section is in addition
to and, in no way a limitation upon existing Town Ordinances regulating
personal conduct.
[Amended 12-7-2023]
[Ord. 6/8/78, § 1; amended 12-7-2023]
The consumption of alcoholic beverages of any kind or the possession
of any open container thereof is prohibited in all public areas, including
but not limited to, outdoor common areas, beaches, parks, athletic
and recreational facilities, streets, and other public areas in the
Town with the exception of those places licensed for the consumption
of alcoholic beverages.
[Ord. 6/8/78, § 2; Ord. 6/29/78]
There shall be no sleeping in any public area of the Town, including
beaches, parks, streets and automobiles parked in any public area,
between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. It shall be a misdemeanor
for any person to sleep in any public area of the Town except those
places which provide sleeping accommodations for transient visitors,
or except where special permission has been granted by the Town Council.
Requests for special permission shall be filed in writing in the office
of the Chief of Police.
The authority of the Town Council in granting permission under
the above paragraph in reference to the Town Beach at the South Shore
is delegated to the Chairman of the Beach Commission.
[Added 12-7-2023]
No person shall use any form of cannabis product(s) in public
areas, including outdoor common areas, parks, beaches, athletic and
recreational facilities, and other public areas.
[Added 12-7-2023]
Any person who violates the provisions of this section may be
fined $100 for the first offense, up to $250 for a second offense,
and up to $500 for a third offense.
[Ord. 8/11/58, § 1; amended 12-7-2023]
Every person who shall willfully injure, damage or deface any
public properties belonging to the Town shall be fined not less than
twice the amount of the damage done, unless that amount shall exceed
$500.
[Ord. 6/19/03]
Any business, residence, or other property to which the Police,
Fire, or other Town department responds in response to a house false
alarm or security device and:
a.
There is a malfunction in the system;
b.
A pet activates the alarm or device;
c.
The owner or another authorized person activates the alarm or device;
d.
Any other reason except that which the alarm or device is designed
to operate, (including but not limited to: break-in, house invasion,
burglary, fire) will incur the following penalties:
First offense: Written warning
Second offense: $25 fine
Third offense: $50 fine
Fourth offense and each subsequent offense: $100 per incident
If the Police, Fire and other Town departments have not responded
to a false alarm within a one-year period then all prior offenses
will be erased from record and the next such violation will be considered
the first offense.
[Ord. 2/5/70, § 1]
No person shall hunt, take or kill any wild bird or animal at
any time within the Town provided, however, that nothing herein contained
shall prohibit an owner or a tenant of land from hunting and killing
wild birds or animals thereon and persons who have the consent in
writing of the owner or tenant, pursuant to the Fish and Game Laws
of the State of Rhode Island.
[Ord. 2/5/70, § 2]
No person shall hunt, take or kill any wild bird or animal at
any time on the land of another without a written permit from the
owner or tenant of said land countersigned by the Chief of Police
or his deputy, pursuant to the Fish and Game Laws of the State of
Rhode Island.
[Ord. 2/5/70, § 3]
All permits shall be renewed annually and may be revoked by
parties issuing the same.
[Ord. 2/5/70, § 4]
No person shall discharge any firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling
or structure without specific permission of the owner or tenant thereof.
It shall be unlawful to hunt along or across a highway.
[Ord. 2/5/70, § 5; Ord. 6/23/77; amended 12-7-2023]
Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall
be fined not more than $250.
[Ord. 10/14/46, § 1, 2; Ord. 11/9/95; Ord. 7/11/02;
amended 12-7-2023]
a.
No person shall use or discharge any weapon of any kind or description,
including but not limited to any bow and arrow, rifle, musket, pistol,
shotgun, blunderbuss or fowling piece in the pursuing of hunting animals
or birds in the Town on the first day of the week, commonly known
as Sunday.
Notwithstanding the above, bow and arrow may be used for the
hunting of deer only on private land with written permission of the
landowner countersigned by the Chief of Police. The hunter must file
with the Chief of Police a copy of his/her valid State of Rhode Island
bow-hunting license.
b.
Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be fined
not exceeding $250.
[Added 12-7-2023]
a.
For the purposes
of this chapter "cannabis" shall be defined by R.I. Gen. Laws §
21-28.11-3(6), as amended.
b.
For the purposes
of this chapter, "public area" shall be defined as any place to which
the public or a substantial group of persons has access and/or view.
A "public area" includes but shall not be limited to any public street
or right-of-way of the Town of Little Compton, and associated sidewalks,
walkways, trails, parking lots, buildings, and grounds associated
with those buildings that are open to the public. All parks, athletic
facilities, recreational facilities, and conservation areas owned
by the Town of Little Compton shall also constitute public areas.
