The Bangor City Council finds that excessive vehicle noise, as defined in this article, is detrimental to the health, welfare, safety and quality of life of Bangor's citizens. It is the policy of the City of Bangor to prohibit unnecessary, excessive and annoying vehicle noise within the City of Bangor.
Terminology used in this article shall have the following meanings. When not defined below, terminology used in this article shall be defined in conformance with the United States of America Standard Acoustical Terminology, American National Standards Institute Document S1.1-1960 (R. 1971).
AMBIENT NOISE LEVEL An existing level of all-encompassing noise associated with a given environment, usually a composite of sounds from many sources, near and far, without inclusion of intruding noises from isolated, identifiable sources.
A-WEIGHTED SOUND LEVEL The sound pressure level in decibels as measured on a sound-level meter using the A-weighted network. The level so read is designated "db(A)" or "dBA."
CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER The head of the Code Enforcement Division or their designee.
[Amended 9-14-1998 by Ord. No. 98-339]
DECIBEL (dB) A unit for measuring the volume of a sound equal to 20 times the logarithm to the base 10 of the ratio of the pressure of the sound measured to the reference pressure, which is 20 micropascals.
GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT RATING (GVWR) The value specified by the manufacturer as the recommended maximum loaded weight of a single motor vehicle. In cases where trailers and tractors are separable, the gross combination weight rating (GCWR), which is the value specified by the manufacturer as the recommended maximum loaded weight of the combination vehicle, shall be used.
MOTOR VEHICLE Any and all self-propelled vehicles, on or off road, subject to identification under Maine's Motor Vehicle Code.
PERSON Any individual, association, partnership or corporation, and includes any officer, employee, department, agency or entity, public or private.
POWERED MOTOR VEHICLE Any self-propelled airborne, waterborne or landborne plane, vessel or vehicle which is not designed to carry persons, including but not limited to any model airplane, boat, car or rocket.
SOUND-LEVEL METER An instrument, including a microphone, an amplifier, an output meter and frequency weighting networks, for the measurement of sound levels which meets or exceeds the requirements pertinent for Type S2 or S2A meters in American National Standards Institute specifications for sound-level meters, S1.4-1971, or the most recent revision thereof.
SOUND TRUCK Any motor vehicle or other vehicle, regardless of motive power, whether in motion or stationary, having mounted thereon, or attached thereto, any sound-amplifying equipment.
VEHICLE Any vehicle, regardless of motive power and whether or not subject to identification under Maine's Motor Vehicle Code, including aircraft, trains or other railroad vehicles or operations, off-road vehicles, powered motor vehicles, sound trucks, boats, vessels and ships.
No persons shall unreasonably make, continue or cause to be made or continued any
noise disturbance or excessive vehicle
noise within the limits of the City of Bangor.
Noise which exceeds the maximum
noise level limit provided in §
194-9 below shall be deemed unreasonable under this article, except as provided in §
194-10 below.
The maximum
noise level limits provided in §
194-9 above do not apply to the following:
A. Any aircraft operating pursuant to or in conformity with federal law or regulations now existing or hereafter promulgated or operating within the City of Bangor's Airport Development District as defined in Chapter
165, Land Development, of the Code of the City of Bangor.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
B. Any aircraft operating under technical difficulties, in any kind of distress, under emergency orders of an air traffic controller or being operated in response to any federal, state or local emergency, including civil air patrol search and rescue operations.
C. Any police, fire or emergency rescue vehicle, including privately owned vehicles of volunteer fire or rescue squads, when in pursuit or responding to a fire or emergency call.
D. Any train or other railroad vehicle or operation operating in interstate commerce in conformity with
noise regulations promulgated by the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of Transportation under 42 U.S.C. § 4916, provided that the maximum
noise limits prescribed in Table I of §
194-9A above shall apply to such vehicles at the time and place of measurement by sound-level meter, notwithstanding prior test results conducted on such vehicle by the railroad company, and provided that this article shall not be deemed to prohibit municipal regulation of railroad-generated environmental
noise necessitated by special local conditions as approved by the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency in accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 4916(c)(2).
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
E. Public road construction projects, including reconstruction, grading and bridge projects.
F. Ambient traffic noise generated by vehicles traveling on federal interstate highways.
G. Farming operations conducted in conformity with generally accepted agricultural practices as provided in the Maine Agriculture Protection Act, 7 M.R.S.A. § 151 et seq.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
H. Vehicles operating solely on land owned or leased by the owner of the vehicle concerned or with landowner permission, provided that
noise generated by operation of the vehicle as measured at the property boundary does not exceed the unadjusted sound levels specified in §
194-9A above.
I. Events hosted at Bass Park as part of the Bangor State Fair.
[Added 12-26-2001 by Ord. No. 02-46]