[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Mathews County 6-27-2023. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The Board hereby finds and declares that excessive noise is a serious hazard to the public health, welfare, peace and safety and the quality of life of the citizens of Mathews County; that the people have a right to and should be ensured of an environment free from sound that jeopardizes the public health, welfare, peace, and safety or degrades the quality of life. It is therefore the policy of the Mathews County Board of Supervisors and the purpose of this chapter is to prevent such excessive noise.
Any word undefined herein shall be given its ordinary meaning, given the context in which the word is used. As used in this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:
BOARD
The Mathews County Board of Supervisors.
COMMERCIAL AREA
Property zoned for business use.
DWELLING UNIT
One or more rooms arranged, designed, or intended to be occupied as separate living quarters by one or more persons and including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation.
EMERGENCY
Any occurrence or set of circumstances involving actual or imminent physical trauma or property damage which demands immediate action.
EXCESSIVE NOISE
Any sound which disturbs humans, or which causes or tends to cause an adverse psychological or physiological effect on humans.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, owner, sole proprietorship, partnership, limited-liability company, corporation, unincorporated association, governmental body, municipal corporation, executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, agent, occupant, or other legal entity.
PLAINLY AUDIBLE
Any sound, other than unamplified normal human conversational level, that can be detected by a person using his or her unaided hearing faculties.
PUBLIC PROPERTY
Any real property owned or controlled by the County or any other governmental entity.
PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY
Any public street, avenue, boulevard, highway, sidewalk, or alley.
REAL PROPERTY LINE
An imaginary line along the ground surface and its vertical extension which separates the real property owned by one person from that owned by another person, but not including intra-building real property divisions.
RESIDENTIAL AREA
Any property zoned for residential use and used for residential purposes.
SOUND
Includes, but is not limited to, the following: i) something that is capable of being heard by a person; ii) vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person's ear or that can be otherwise detected. The description of sound may include any characteristics of such sound, including duration, intensity, and frequency.
The following acts, or the causing or permitting thereof, among others, are declared to be excessive noise and are a violation of this chapter:
A. 
Radios, musical instruments, and similar devices. Operating, playing, or permitting the operation or playing of any radio, compact disc player, or other sound reproduction device, or any drum, musical instrument, or similar device, between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 6:00 a.m.:
(1) 
In such a manner as to permit sound to be plainly audible across a residential real property line or through partitions common to two dwelling units within a building; or
(2) 
When the sound is plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet or more from its source.
B. 
Loudspeakers, public address systems and sound trucks. Using, operating, or permitting the operation of any loudspeaker, public address system, mobile sound vehicle or similar device amplifying sound therefrom for any purpose between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 6:00 a.m. in such a manner as to permit sound to be plainly audible across a residential real property line, or through partitions common to two dwelling units within a building.
No provision of this chapter shall apply to any person or entity who has applied for and received a special event permit from the County Administrator.
A. 
The person(s) causing, operating, or allowing the sound that is a violation of this chapter shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter. If it cannot be determined which person is causing, operating, or allowing said sound, then any owner, tenant, resident, or manager of the property where the violation is occurring is rebuttably presumed to be causing, operating, or allowing said sound.
B. 
A summons may be obtained from a magistrate for the violation of any provision of this chapter only upon the sworn complaint of a law enforcement officer or a person alleging the specific violation complained of after a warning has been issued.
A. 
Any violation of any provision of this chapter shall constitute a Class 3 misdemeanor. Conviction of a second, or subsequent, violation, within 10 years of a prior conviction, shall be punishable as a Class 2 misdemeanor.
B. 
In addition to, and not in lieu of, the penalties prescribed in this section, the Board may apply to the Circuit Court for an injunction against the continuing violation of any of the provisions of this chapter and may seek any other remedy or relief authorized by law.
C. 
Mathews County may obtain summonses for violations of any of the provisions of this chapter and apply to any court of competent jurisdiction for such injunctive relief as shall be necessary to terminate continuing violations of this chapter.
Should any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this chapter be declared invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the chapter in its entirety or of any part thereof other than that portion declared to be invalid.