[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council
of the Borough of Bergenfield 3-13-2001 by Ord. No. 2275. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
Whereas excessive noise is a serious hazard
to the public health and welfare and the quality of life; and whereas
a substantial body of science and technology exists by which excessive
noise may be substantially abated; and whereas the people have a right
to and should be ensured an environment free from noise that may jeopardize
their health or welfare or degrade the quality of life; and whereas
the necessity in the public interest for the provisions and prohibitions
hereinafter contained and enacted is declared as a matter of legislative
determination and public policy and the provisions and prohibitions
hereinafter contained and enacted are in pursuance of and for the
purpose of securing and promoting the public health, comfort, convenience,
safety and welfare and the peace and quiet of the inhabitants of the
Borough of Bergenfield, so, therefore, it is the policy of the Borough
of Bergenfield to prevent noise which may jeopardize the health or
welfare of its citizens or degrade the quality of life.
All terminology used in this chapter and not
defined below shall be in conformance with applicable publications
of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or its successor
body.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
A steady, fluctuating or impact noise which exists, essentially
without interruptions, for a period of one hour or more.
A steady, fluctuating or impulsive noise which may or may
not contain a pure tone, which varies in sound-pressure level such
that the same level is obtained repetitively at reasonably uniform
intervals of time.
Any municipal agency.
Any mechanism which is intended to produce or which actually
produces noise when operated or handled.
A motor vehicle used in response to a public calamity or
to protect persons or property from imminent danger.
Work made necessary to restore property to a safe condition
following a public calamity, work to restore public utilities, or
work required to protect persons or property from an imminent exposure
to danger.
Any vehicles which are propelled or drawn by mechanical equipment,
such as but not limited to passenger cars, trucks, truck trailers,
semitrailers, campers, motorcycles, minibikes, go-carts, snowmobiles,
amphibious craft on land, dune buggies or racing vehicles.
Any apparatus consisting of baffles, chambers or acoustical-absorbing
materials, whose primary purpose is to transmit liquids or gases while
causing a reduction in sound emission at one end.
Any sound which is unwanted or which causes or tends to cause
an adverse psychological effect on human beings.
Any sound which annoys, disturbs or perturbs reasonable persons
with normal sensitivities; or any sound which injures or endangers
the comfort, repose, health, hearing, peace or safety of other persons.
Any individual, association, partnership or corporation,
and includes any officer, employee, department, agency or instrumentality
of the United States, a state or any political subdivision of that
state.
Any noise for which the information content of that noise
is unambiguously communicated to the listener, such as but not limited
to understandable spoken speech or comprehensible musical rhythms.
Any powered vehicles, either airborne, waterborne or landborne,
which are designed not to carry persons or property, such as but not
limited to model airplanes, boats, cars or rockets, and which can
be propelled by mechanical means.
An imaginary line at the ground surface, which line separates
the real property owned by one person from that owned by another person,
and its vertical extension.
Any street, avenue, boulevard, highway, alley or public space
which is owned or controlled by a public government entity.
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 that propagates at finite speed
to distant points.
Any device, excluding those attached to motor vehicles, used
to alert persons engaged in emergency operations. These persons include
but are not limited to fire fighters, first-aid squad members and
law enforcement officers, whether paid or volunteer.
Any device, fixed or movable, which is located or used on
geographically defined real property other than a public right-of-way.
A sound-pressure level which remains essentially constant
during the period of observation, i.e., the fluctuations are too small
to meet the criterion for fluctuating noise.
Any Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday which
is not a legal holiday.
It shall be the duty and responsibility of the
Police Department of the Borough of Bergenfield to enforce the provisions
of this chapter.
A violation of this chapter shall be cause for
summons and complaint to be issued forthwith; provided, however, that
if the noise source is not a motor vehicle moving on a public right-of-way,
in lieu of a summons and complaint, enforcement personnel may issue
a twenty-four-hour notice, in writing, which may be served personally
or by certified mail to the last known address of the person or persons
in charge of or in control of the device, building or premises to
abate said violations of this chapter. Failure to comply with the
order so issued and served shall constitute a violation of this chapter.
In order to implement the purposes of this chapter,
the Police Department of the Borough of Bergenfield shall have the
power to:
A.
Studies. Conduct, or cause to be conducted, studies,
research and monitoring related to noise.
B.
Education. Conduct programs of public education regarding
the causes and effects of noise but not giving specific advice for
its abatement, and to encourage the participation of public interest
groups in related public information efforts.
C.
Inspections. For reasonable cause, and upon presentation
of proper credentials, enter any building, property, premises or place
and inspect any noise source for the purpose of ascertaining the compliance
or noncompliance with any provision of this chapter, or have access
to, and require the production of, books and papers pertinent to any
matter under investigation.
D.
Records. Require the owner or operator of any noise
source to establish and maintain records and make such reports as
the Police Department may reasonably prescribe.
E.
Measurements. Require the owner or operator of any
noise source to measure the noise emissions thereof in accordance
with such methods and procedures and at such locations and times as
the Police Department may reasonably prescribe.
It shall be unlawful for any person to make,
continue or cause to be made or continued or cause any excessive or
unusually loud noise or to create a noise disturbance within the limits
of the Borough of Bergenfield.
[Amended 7-7-2009 by Ord. No. 09-2420; 2-16-2016 by Ord. No. 16-2489]
The following acts, among others, excluding Borough-owned and
-operated vehicles, are declared to be loud, disturbing or excessive
noise in violation of this chapter, but said enumeration shall not
be deemed to be exclusive:
A.
Horns and signaling devices. The sounding of any horn or signaling
device on any motor vehicle on any public right-of-way, except as
a danger warning signal or as provided in the Vehicle Code of the
State of New Jersey.
B.
Radios, television sets and similar devices:
(1)
Operating or permitting the use or operation of any radio receiving
set, musical instrument, television, phonograph, drum or other device
for the production or reproduction of sound in such a manner and at
such a volume as to cause a noise disturbance; or
(2)
Operating any such device, between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 8:00
a.m. the following day, in such a manner as to be plainly audible
across real property boundaries or through partitions common to two
parties within a building or plainly audible at 50 feet from such
device when operated within a motor vehicle parked on a public right-of-way
or on a public space or within a motorboat. The foregoing shall apply
whether the radio, television receiving set, musical instrument, phonograph
or other machine or device used for the production or reproduction
or sound is stationary, portable, or in a motor vehicle which shall
disturb persons in the vicinity.
C.
Exterior loudspeakers. Using or operating any mechanical device or
loudspeaker in a fixed or movable position exterior to any building
or mounted upon any aircraft, motor vehicle or motorboat, such that
the sound therefrom is plainly audible at or beyond the property boundary
of the source or on a public way between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and
8:00 a.m. the following day.
D.
Animals. Owning, keeping, possessing or harboring any animal or animals
which, by frequent or habitual howling, barking, meowing, squawking
or other noisemaking, cause a noise disturbance. The provisions of
this subsection shall also apply to all private or public facilities,
including any animal pounds, which hold or treat animals.
E.
Loading operations. Loading, unloading, opening or otherwise handling
boxes, crates, containers, garbage cans or otherwise similar objects
between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. the following day, in
such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance.
F.
Construction noise. Operating or causing to be operated any equipment
used in commercial construction, repair, alteration or demolition
work on buildings, structures, streets, alleys or appurtenances thereto,
in any land use category, on weekdays between the hours of 7:00 p.m.
and 8:00 a.m. the following day or between 6:00 p.m. Saturday night
and 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning and on legal holidays.
G.
Vehicle repairs or testing. Repairing, rebuilding, modifying or testing any motor vehicle, off-road vehicle or motorboat in or near a residential use district, in such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance or violate the provisions of § 215-7.
H.
Refuse-compacting vehicles. The operation or permitting the operation
of any motor vehicle which can compact refuse and which creates, during
the compacting cycle, a disturbing noise, between the hours of 6:00
p.m. and 8:00 a.m. the following day, in residential use districts.
I.
Bells and alarms. The sounding or permitting the sounding of any
exterior burglar alarm on any building or motor vehicle unless such
burglar alarm shall terminate its operation with 30 minutes of its
being activated. Any motor vehicle upon which a burglar alarm has
been installed shall prominently display the telephone number for
which communication may be made with the owner of such motor vehicle.
J.
Domestic power tools such as leaf blowers, chainsaws, lawn mowers,
powered saws, sanders, drills and grinders. Operating or permitting
to be operated any powered saw, sander, drill, grinder, garden equipment
or tools of like nature, used primarily for domestic purposes, outdoors
in residential zones between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.
the following day.
K.
Blowers, fans and pumps. Using any blowers, fans, pumps or engines
or motors in connection therewith, including, by way of example and
not by way of limitation, air-conditioning systems, compression devices
and pool filter systems, if such use creates loud, penetrating or
continuous noises that disturb the comfort or repose of persons residing
in the vicinity.
L.
Vehicle use. Using any automobile, motorcycle or vehicle so out of
repair, so loaded or in such manner as to create loud or unnecessary
grating, grinding, rattling or other noise.
M.
Unmuffled exhaust. Discharging into the open air the exhaust of any
automobile, motorcycle, steam or other engine except through a muffler
or other device which effectively prevents loud or explosive noises
therefrom.
N.
Yelling, shouting, and similar acts. Yelling, shouting or any other
like noises at any place so as to annoy or disturb the quiet, comfort
or repose of any person in the vicinity.
Noise caused in the performance of emergency
work for the immediate safety, health or welfare of the community
or individual of the community or to restore property to a safe condition
following a public calamity shall not be subject to the provisions
of this chapter. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit
law enforcement, ambulance, fire or other emergency personnel to make
excessive noise in the performance of their duties when such noise
is not clearly necessary. The use of stationary emergency signaling
devices shall be for emergency use only.
A.
Any person, firm or corporation who shall be found
guilty of violating any provision of this chapter shall, for each
offense, be fined a sum of not more than $200 or be imprisoned in
the county jail for a period not exceeding 30 days, or both. Each
day of such violation's continuance shall be considered as a separate
offense and shall be separately punishable.
B.
Any person, firm or corporation who shall be found
guilty of violating any provision of this chapter for a second time
within a six-month period shall, for each offense, be fined a sum
of not less than $200 and not more than $500 or be imprisoned in the
county jail for a period not exceeding 90 days, or both.
The operation or maintenance of any noise source
in violation of any provision of this chapter shall be deemed and
is declared to be a public nuisance and may be subject to abatement
summarily by a restraining order or injunction issued by a court of
competent jurisdiction or in any other manner available for the abatement
of public nuisances.
A.
Any remedy available pursuant to this chapter shall
be considered separate and not exclusive of any other remedy available
hereunder.
B.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to impair
any cause of action, or legal remedy therefor, of any person for injury
or damage arising from any violation of this chapter.
