[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Health
of the Township of Union 5-11-2005 (Ch. 585 of the 2004 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
The following words and terms, when used in
this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context
clearly indicates otherwise. Terms not defined in this chapter have
the same meaning as those defined in N.J.A.C. 7:29.
Any site preparation, assembly, erection, repair, alteration
or similar action, including demolition of buildings or structures.
Any dismantling, destruction or removal of buildings, structures,
or roadways.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Any work or action necessary to deliver essential public
services including, but not limited to, repairing water, gas, electricity,
telephone, sewer facilities, or public transportation facilities,
removing fallen trees on public rights-of-way, dredging navigational
waterways, or abating life-threatening conditions.
Either a single pressure peak or a single burst (multiple
pressure peaks) that has a duration of less than one second.
Any vehicle that is propelled other than by human or animal
power on land.
A properly functioning sound dissipative device or system
for abating the sound of escaping gasses on equipment where such a
device is part of the normal configuration of the equipment.
Any building comprising two or more dwelling units, including,
but not limited to, apartments, condominiums, co-ops, multiple family
houses, townhouses, and attached residences.
Any distinct parcel of land that is used for more than one
category of activity. Examples include, but are not limited to:
A commercial, residential, industrial or public
service property having boilers, incinerators, elevators, automatic
garage doors, air conditioners, laundry rooms, utility provisions,
or health and recreational facilities, or other similar devices or
areas, either in the interior or on the exterior of the building,
which may be a source of elevated sound levels at another category
on the same distinct parcel of land; or
A building which is both commercial (usually
on the ground floor) and residential property located above, behind,
below or adjacent.
An employee of a local, county or regional health agency
which is certified pursuant to the County Environmental Health Act
(N.J.S.A. 26:3A2-21 et seq.) to perform noise enforcement activities,
or a municipality with a Department-approved noise control ordinance
and the employee has received noise enforcement training and is currently
certified in noise enforcement. The employee must be acting within
his or her designated jurisdiction and must be authorized to issue
a summons in order to be considered a noise control officer.
Any sound that can be detected by a person using his or her
unaided hearing faculties. As an example, if the sound source under
investigation is a portable or personal vehicular sound-amplification
or -reproduction device, the detection of the rhythmic bass component
of the music is sufficient to verify plainly audible sound. The noise
control officer need not determine the title, specific words, or the
artist performing the song.
Any street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, sidewalk, alley
or easement that is owned, leased, or controlled by a nongovernmental
entity.
Any street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, sidewalk, alley
or easement that is owned, leased, or controlled by a governmental
entity.
Any real property or structures thereon that are owned, leased,
or controlled by a governmental entity.
Either:
The imaginary line, including its vertical extension,
that separates one parcel of real property from another;
The vertical and horizontal boundaries of a
dwelling unit that is part of a multi-dwelling-unit building; or
On a multiuse property, the interface between
the two portions of the property on which different categories of
activity are being performed (e.g., if the multiuse property is a
building which is residential upstairs and commercial downstairs,
then the real property line would be the interface between the residential
area and the commercial area).
Any day that is not a federal holiday, and beginning on Monday
at 7:00 a.m. and ending on the following Friday at 6:00 p.m.
Beginning on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and ending on the following
Monday at 7:00 a.m.
A.
This chapter applies
to sound from the following property categories:
C.
Sound from stationary
emergency signaling devices shall be regulated in accordance with
N.J.A.C. 7:29-1.4, except that the testing of the electromechanical
functioning of a stationary emergency signaling device shall not meet
or exceed 10 seconds.
A.
Whereas excessive
sound is a serious hazard to the public health, welfare, safety, and
the quality of life; and whereas a substantial body of science and
technology exists by which excessive sound may be substantially abated;
and whereas the people have a right to, and should be ensured of,
an environment free from excessive sound, now therefore it is the
policy of the Township of Union Board of Health to prevent excessive
sound that may jeopardize the health, welfare, or safety of the citizens
or degrade the quality of life.
B.
This chapter shall
apply to the control of sound originating from sources within the
Township of Union.
A.
The provisions
of this chapter shall be enforced by noise control officers. A person
shall be qualified to be a noise control officer if the person meets
the criteria set forth in the definition above and completes, at a
frequency specified by the Department in N.J.A.C. 7:29-2.11, a noise
certification and recertification course which are offered by the
Department of Environmental Sciences of Cook College, Rutgers, the
State University of New Jersey or any other noise certification or
recertification course which is offered by an accredited university
and approved by the Department.
B.
Sound measurements made by a noise control officer shall conform to the procedures set forth at N.J.A.C. 7:29-2, except that interior sound level measurements shall also conform with the procedures set forth in § 735-5B and C of this regulation and with the definition of "real property line" as contained herein.[1]
C.
Noise control
officers shall have the power to:
(1)
Coordinate
the noise control activities of all departments in the Township of
Union and cooperate with all other public bodies and agencies to the
extent practicable;
(2)
Review the
actions of the Township of Union and advise of the effect, if any,
of such actions on noise control;
(3)
Review public
and private projects, subject to mandatory review or approval by other
departments or boards, for compliance with this chapter; and
(4)
Investigate
and pursue possible violations of this chapter for sound levels which
equal or exceed the sound levels set forth in Tables I and II,[2] when measured at a receiving property located within the designated jurisdiction of the noise control officer, in accordance with § 735-7 below; and
[2]
Editor's Note: Tables I and II are included
at the end of this chapter.
(5)
Cooperate
with noise control officers of adjacent municipalities in enforcing
one another's municipal noise ordinances.
A.
No person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit the operation of any source of sound on any source property listed in § 735-2A above in such a manner as to create a sound level that equals or exceeds the sound level limits set forth in Tables I and II when measured at or within the real property line of any of the receiving properties listed in Tables I and II, except as specified in Subsection B below.
B.
When measuring
total sound or residual sound within a multiuse property, or within
a residential unit when the property line between it and the source
property is a common wall, all exterior doors and windows shall be
closed and the measurements shall be taken in the center of the room
most affected by the noise. Residual sound shall be measured in accordance
with N.J.A.C. 7:29-2.9(b)2. When measuring total sound or residual
sound, all sound sources within the dwelling unit must be shut off
(e.g., television, stereo). Measurements shall not be taken in areas
which receive only casual use such as hallways, closets and bathrooms.
C.
Indoor measurements
shall only be taken if the sound source is on or within the same property
as the receiving property, as in the case of a multiuse property (e.g.,
sound generated within a commercial unit of a multiuse property building
and received within a residential unit of the same building) or multi-dwelling-unit
building. In addition, indoor measurements shall be taken if the property
line between the receiving property and the source property is a common
wall, such as in a multi-dwelling-unit building. The allowable sound
level standards for indoors are as shown in Tables I and II.
D.
Impulsive sound.
Impulsive sound shall not equal or exceed 80 decibels at all times.
[Added 11-26-2013 by Ord. No. 5285[1]]
The provisions of this chapter shall not apply
to the following exceptions:
A.
The operational performance standards established
at N.J.A.C. 7:29-1.2 shall not apply to any of the following noise
sources:
(1)
Agricultural activities;
(2)
Bells, chimes or carillons, which may include electronic
devices that imitate the sounds of bells, chimes or carillons, while
being used in conjunction with religious services;
(3)
Emergency energy-release devices;
(4)
When public health or safety is involved, emergency
work to provide electricity, water, or other public utilities; to
conduct emergency construction or demolition work; to make emergency
repairs to public roadways or bridges; to address emergency incidents
such as cleanup of spills of hazardous materials; or, upon written
approval of authorized enforcement agency, to utilize sound-producing
devices to relocate wildlife;
(5)
Motor vehicle racetrack facilities engaged in the
racing of motor vehicles;
(6)
National Warning System (NAWAS): systems used to
warn the community of attack or imminent public danger such as flooding
or explosion. These systems are controlled by the New Jersey Department
of Law and Public Safety;
(7)
Noise of aircraft flight operations;
(8)
Public celebrations that are government-sponsored
or government-permitted events;
(9)
Public roadways;
(10)
Surface carriers engaged in commerce by railroad
when the noise sources in question are trains in motion, operating
retarders, train horns and whistles, or performing locomotive load
test cell stands;
(11)
The unamplified human voice;
(13)
Normal operation of a handgun, rifle, shotgun,
skeet-shooting or trapshooting range which has been maintained continuously
in the same location since January 24, 1972; or
(14)
Emergency electricity generators at a residential,
industrial, commercial, or community service facility in use during
an electrical outage.
[1]
Editor’s Note: This ordinance also repealed original
§ 585-6, Restricted uses and activities, of the 1986 Code.
A.
Violation of any
provision of this chapter shall be cause for an enforcement document
to be issued to the violator by the noise control officer according
to procedures set forth at N.J.A.C. 7:29-1.7. The recipient of an
enforcement document shall be entitled to a hearing in municipal court
having jurisdiction to contest such action.
B.
Any person who
violates any provision of this chapter shall be subject to a civil
penalty for each offense of not more than $3,000. If the violation
is of a continuing nature, each day during which it occurs shall constitute
an additional, separate, and distinct offense.
C.
No provision of
this chapter shall be construed to impair any common law or statutory
cause of action, or legal remedy therefrom, of any person for injury
or damage arising from any violation of this chapter or from other
law.
