[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Greencastle 1-2-2007 by Ord. No. 2006-11. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Any mechanism which is intended to produce, or which does
produce as a result of its operation, noise when used or operated.
Any occurrence or set of circumstances involving actual or
imminent physical trauma or property damage.
A motor vehicle used in response to a public calamity, or
to protect persons or property from an imminent exposure to danger.
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 a penalty, "person" includes
the individual members, partners, officers and managers thereof or
any of them.
An imaginary line drawn through the points of contact of
adjoining lands, apartments, condominiums, townhouses and duplexes
owned, rented or leased by different persons; a demarcation or a line
of separate properties; and also, for any two or more buildings sharing
common grounds, the line drawn midway between any two such buildings.
All areas devoted to public rights-of-way shall be deemed to be across
the property line. For the purpose of this definition, the property
line includes all points on a plane formed by projecting the property
line in a manner deemed appropriate by the enforcing police officer.
Any street, avenue, boulevard, highway, sidewalk, alley or
similar place which is open to public use as a matter of right.
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 which propagates at finite speed
to distant points. The description of sound may include any characteristics
of such sound, including duration, intensity and frequency.
The following actions are specifically prohibited, unless otherwise exempted in § 130-3:
A.
Radios and other amplified music. Use or operation
of, or permitting the use or operation of, any radio, CD player, MP3
player, television set, musical instrument, stereo (phonograph), or
other machine or device designated or intended to produce or reproduce
sound in such a manner which may reasonably be anticipated to disturb
the peace, quiet, comfort, health or safety of residential inhabitants
or at any time with louder volume than is necessary for convenient
hearing by the person or persons who are in the room, vehicle or chamber
in which such machine or device is operating and who are voluntary
listeners thereto. The operating of any such machine or device in
such manner as to be plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet from
the source shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this chapter.
B.
Operation of machinery or equipment. The use or operation
of, or permitting the use or operation of, between the hours of 11:00
p.m. and 7:00 a.m., all types of machinery or equipment, whether indoors
or outside, including but not limited to any machinery or equipment
used in industrial fabrication, manufacture, or assembly, any machinery
or equipment used in the construction, repair, alteration, demolition,
or excavation of property, any machinery or equipment used in the
improvement or maintenance of lawns or gardens, or any other type
of equipment which may reasonably be anticipated to disturb the peace,
quiet, comfort, health or safety of residential inhabitants at a level
which is audible beyond the property line of the property upon which
the machinery or equipment is being used or operated and is at such
a level which may reasonably be anticipated to disturb the peace,
quiet, comfort, health or safety of residential inhabitants. The use
or operation of any machinery or equipment in such manner as to be
plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet from the property line of
the property upon which the machinery or equipment is being used or
operated shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this chapter.
C.
Vehicles. The repairing, rebuilding, or testing, between
the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., of any vehicle, including but
not limited to cars, trucks, vans, sport utility vehicles, motorcycles,
dirt bikes, all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, motorboats, or aircraft
in such a manner which may reasonably be anticipated to disturb the
peace, quiet, comfort, health or safety of residential inhabitants.
The repairing, rebuilding, or testing of any vehicle in such manner
as to be plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet from the property
line of the property upon which the vehicle is being repaired, rebuilt,
or tested shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this chapter.
D.
Animals and birds. Owning, possessing, harboring or
controlling any animal or bird which barks, bays, cries, squawks or
makes any other noise continuously and/or incessantly for a period
of 10 minutes or more or makes such noise intermittently for one-half
hour or more, which may be reasonably anticipated to be a disturbance
of any reasonable person at any time of the day or night, regardless
of whether the animal or bird is situated in or upon private property;
provided, however, 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 or for any
other legitimate cause which teased or provoked the animal or bird.
The following uses and activities shall be exempt from the provisions of § 130-2:
A.
The use of safety signals, warning devices, emergency
pressure valves, or other devices designed to alert persons of an
emergency.
B.
Public festivals or celebrations, fairs or carnivals,
lawful fireworks or noisemakers, when permitted by the Borough or
used in celebration of an official holiday authorized by the Borough,
commonwealth, or federal government.
C.
Concerts, band concerts, block parties, church carnivals
or other performances or similar activities publicly or privately
sponsored and presented in any public or private space, provided that
such activities do not occur between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00
a.m.
D.
Routine and customary ringing of bells or chimes,
including ice cream trucks.
E.
Athletic, recreational, or other such outdoor events,
including electronically amplified announcements, from an official
Borough, school district, private school, or other organized league
recognized by Greencastle Borough.
F.
Municipal or utility services. The maintenance, repair,
or replacement of any municipal or utility installation in or about
the public right-of-way or any other customary municipal or utility
function, including but not limited to snow removal, refuse collection,
tree trimming, and any other type of municipal or utility function.
G.
The use of sirens by any authorized emergency vehicle
that is responding to an emergency or acting in any other official
capacity.
H.
Emergency work. Work performed for the purpose of
preventing or repairing the physical trauma or property damage.
I.
Any train or aircraft being operated pursuant to commonwealth
or federal regulations.
The Greencastle Police Department shall have
the authority to administer the provisions of this chapter and to
investigate complaints and prosecute violations of this chapter.
Any person, firm, or corporation violating any
of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof,
be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $50 and no more than $300
and the cost of prosecution, and in default of payment of such fines
and costs, to imprisonment of not more than 10 days. Each day a violation
occurs or continues shall be considered a separate offense.
