[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Franklin Park 7-19-2017 by Ord.
No. 637-2017.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor’s Note: This ordinance also superseded former
Ch. 136, Noise, adopted 7-15-1998 by Ord. No. 456-1998.
It is hereby declared to be a nuisance and it shall be unlawful
for any person, firm or corporation to make or cause or suffer or
permit to be made or caused, upon any premises owned, occupied or
controlled by him or her or it or upon any public street, alley or
thoroughfare in the Borough of Franklin Park, any unnecessary noises
or sounds by means of the human voice or by any other means or methods
which are physically annoying to the comfort of any person or which
are so harsh or so prolonged or unnatural or unusual in their use,
time and place as to occasion physical discomfort or which are injurious
to the lives, health, peace and comfort of the inhabitants of said
Borough or any member thereof.
No person, persons, firm or corporation shall play, use or operate
or knowingly permit to be played, used or operated any radio receiving
set, musical instrument, phonograph, sound amplifier, loudspeaker
or other machine or device for the reproduction of sound upon property
(real or personal) or premises owned, occupied or used by him, them
or it which is not measured and regulated by decibels so that the
sound coming from such machine can be audibly heard at a distance
greater than 100 feet from the property or premises wherein such machine
or device is located. Nothing herein contained shall be construed
to prohibit the playing of a band or orchestra in any concert hall,
auditorium or public park or the utilization of such sound-producing
devices by charitable or nonprofit groups for the general purpose
of public announcements or public events.
A.
No person shall operate a sound truck or loudspeaker on the streets
or public places of the Borough of Franklin Park without first obtaining
a permit therefor from the designated Borough official. Such permit
shall not be transferable from person to person or from sound truck
to sound truck and may not be extended as to the date it shall be
used, nor shall any permit for the operation of such sound truck be
issued for use earlier than 8:00 a.m. or later than 9:00 p.m. of the
prevailing local time. Every application for a permit shall be accompanied
by a permit fee as determined by the Borough Council of Franklin Park
Borough pursuant to resolution, and no such permit shall be issued
until the prescribed fee shall have been paid.
B.
The application for such permit shall be filed in duplicate with
the Borough, and the permit issued shall be limited in accordance
with the information contained in such application, which shall set
forth the following:
(1)
The name and home address of the applicant.
(2)
The business address of applicant.
(3)
The name and address of the owner of the sound truck.
(4)
The make and license number of the sound truck.
(5)
The name and address of the person operating the sound truck.
(6)
The name and address of the person operating the sound equipment.
(7)
The purpose for which the sound truck will be used.
(8)
The proposed hours of operation of the sound truck.
(9)
A certificate from an engineer that such amplifying machine is so
equipped and regulated by decibels that the sound coming from such
machine cannot be audibly heard at a distance greater than 100 feet
from the sound truck or amplifying machine.
C.
After the issuance of said permit, the designated Borough official
shall return one certified copy of the application to the permittee,
together with the permit, which must be in the possession of the operator
of the sound truck during such time as the sound-amplifying equipment
is in operation. Such certified application and permit shall, upon
request, be promptly exhibited to any police officer of the Borough
of Franklin Park.
D.
No permit, so issued, may be used which attracts the attention of
motorists or pedestrians, causing the blocking of streets and thereby
creating a traffic congestion and hazard.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to
sound any horn or warning device on any automobile, motorcycle, bus
or other vehicle except when required by law or to give timely warning
of impending danger to persons driving other vehicles or to persons
upon the street. No person shall sound any horn or warning device
on any automobile, motorcycle, bus or other vehicle which shall emit
an unreasonably loud or harsh sound or for any unnecessary or unreasonable
period of time.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to
engage in any exterior construction, including erection, repair, alteration,
renovation, demolition, or removal of any building or structure and
the excavation, filling, or grading in connection therewith, before
7:00 a.m. and after 7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and before
9:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, and all day on New Year's
Day, Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and
Christmas Day. Construction sites are not permitted to accept deliveries,
permit pickups, load, unload, or warm up equipment before or after
permitted hours. Exceptions to the permitted days and hours may be
granted, in writing, by the Borough Manager or his designee, who may
require conditions of approval, including but not limited to noise
mitigation and additional time restraints. This section shall not
apply to work performed by the Department of Public Works or necessary
repairs conducted immediately following severe weather events, other
natural disasters, or an emergency declared by the Mayor.
Any person, firm, or corporation who shall violate any provision
of this article, or fails to comply therewith, or with any of the
requirements thereof, upon conviction thereof in an action brought
before a magisterial district judge in the manner provided for the
enforcement of summary offenses under the- Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal
Procedure, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100
nor more than $1,000, plus costs, including reasonable attorneys'
fees incurred by the Borough, and, in default of payment of said fine
and costs, to a term of imprisonment to the extent permitted by law
for the punishment of summary offenses. A separate offense shall arise
for each day or portion thereof in which a violation of this article
is found to exist and for each section of this article found to have
been violated. The Borough may also commence appropriate actions in
equity to prevent, restrain, correct, enjoin, or abate violations
of this article. All fines and penalties collected for violations
of this article shall be paid to the Borough Treasurer. The initial
determination of ordinance violation is hereby delegated to the Borough
Manager, the Police Department, the Code Official, the authorized
designee of the Borough Manager, and to any other officer or agent
that the Borough Manager or the Borough Council shall deem appropriate.
The Borough Council of Franklin Park, finding that excessive
levels of sound are detrimental to the physical, mental and social
well-being of the people as to their comfort, living conditions, general
welfare and safety, and, being therefore public health and welfare
hazard, hereby declares it to be necessary to provide for the greater
control and more effective regulation of excessive sound and the sources
of excessive sound within the Borough of Franklin Park.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Any sound which:
Any sound which annoys or disturbs humans or which causes
or tends to cause an adverse psychological or physiological effect
on humans.
Any individual, association, partnership or corporation.
Whenever used in any clause prescribing and imposing a penalty, "person"
includes the individual members, partners, officers and managers,
or any of them, of partnerships and associations and as to corporations,
the officers and managers thereof, or any of them.
Vibrations in air or another medium that stimulate the auditory
nerves and produce the sensation of hearing.
It shall be illegal within the Borough of Franklin Park for
any person or persons to own, possess, harbor or control any animal
or bird which makes any noise continuously and/or incessantly for
a period of 10 minutes or makes such noise intermittently for 1/2
hour or more to the disturbance of any person any time of the day
or night, regardless of whether the animal or bird is physically situated
in or upon private property, said noise being a nuisance, provided
that at the time the animal or bird is making such noise, no person
is trespassing or threatening to trespass upon private property in
or upon which the animal or bird is situated nor is there any other
legitimate cause which justifiably provoked the animal or bird.
This article shall not be deemed to prohibit or otherwise declare
unlawful any agricultural operations protected from nuisance suits
by Act No. 1982-133.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 3 P.S. § 951.
Any person, firm, or corporation who shall violate any provision
of this article, or fails to comply therewith, or with any of the
requirements thereof, upon conviction thereof in an action brought
before a magisterial district judge in the manner provided for the
enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal
Procedure, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100
nor more than $1,000, plus costs, including reasonable attorneys'
fees incurred by the Borough, and, in default of payment of said fine
and costs, to a term of imprisonment to the extent permitted by law
for the punishment of summary offenses. A separate offense shall arise
for each day or portion thereof in which a violation of this article
is found to exist and for each section of this article found to have
been violated. The Borough may also commence appropriate actions in
equity to prevent, restrain, correct, enjoin, or abate violations
of this article. All fines and penalties collected for violations
of this article shall be paid to the Borough Treasurer. The initial
determination of ordinance violation is hereby delegated to the Borough
Manager, the Police Department, the Code Official, the authorized
designee of the Borough Manager, and to any other officer or agent
that the Borough Manager or the Borough Council shall deem appropriate.
