[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council
of the Borough of Highland Park by Ord. No. 859 (§ 3-2 of the 1987 Code).
Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.Â
Terminology and standards. All terminology used in
this chapter not defined below shall be in conformance with the applicable
publications of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or
its successor body.
B.Â
AMBIENT NOISE LEVEL
A-WEIGHTED SOUND LEVEL
PLAINLY AUDIBLE NOISE
CYCLICALLY VARYING NOISE
DECIBEL
DEVICE
EMERGENCY VEHICLE
EMERGENCY WORK
FLUCTUATING NOISE
IMPULSIVE NOISE
MOTOR VEHICLE
NOISE DISTURBANCE
PERSON
PROPERTY BOUNDARY
REPETITIVE IMPULSIVE NOISE
RMS SOUND PRESSURE
SOUND
SOUND LEVEL
SOUND LEVEL METER
SOUND PRESSURE
SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL
Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following
terms shall have the meaning indicated:
An average of the sound levels associated with a given environment
during a specific time period. As referenced herein, the ambient noise
level is defined to be the A-weighted sound level exceeded 90% of
the time during a representative fifteen-minute period, if such level
is determined. In the absence of such a determination, the ambient
is defined to be 40 dBA.
The sound level as measured on a sound level meter using
the A-weighting network.
Any noise having a sound greater than 10 dBA with respect
to the ambient.[1]
Fluctuating or impulsive noise which varies in sound level
such that the sound level is repeatedly obtained at reasonably uniform
periods of time.
Logarithmic unit of measure used in describing the amplitude
of sound. Decibel is denoted as dB.
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;
work to restore public utilities; or work required to protect persons
or property from an imminent exposure to danger.
Any noise having a sound level which varies more than six
dBA during a one-minute interval and does not equal the previously
existing ambient noise level more than once during a one-minute interval.
A noise characterized by excursions of sound levels whose
peak levels exceed the ambient by 10 dBA. The duration of a single
impulse is less than one second.
As defined in the motor vehicle code of the state; or any
vehicle which is propelled or drawn by mechanical equipment.
Any sound which annoys or disturbs reasonable persons with
normal sensibilities; or any sound which injures or endangers the
health, hearing or safety of others.
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.
An imaginary line at the ground surface, and its vertical
extension, which separates the property owned by one person from that
owned by another person.
Any impulsive noise having a sound level which exceeds the
ambient by more than 10 dBA more frequently than once per minute.
The square root of the time averaged square of the sound
pressure, denoted "PRMS."
A temporal and spatial oscillation in air pressure.
The weighted sound pressure level obtained by the use of
a sound level meter and frequency-weighting network, such as A, B,
or C, as specified in American National Standards Institute specifications
for sound level meters (ANSI-A1.4-1971, or the latest approved revision
thereof). If the frequency weighting employed is not indicated, the
A-weighting shall apply.
An instrument, including weighting networks, for measuring
sound levels which conform to applicable specifications of the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) or its successor body.
The instantaneous difference between the actual pressure
and the average or barometric pressure at a given point in space.
Twenty times the logarithm to the base of 10 of the ratio
of the RMS sound pressure to the reference pressures which shall be
0.0002 microbars.
[Amended 2-7-1989 by Ord. No. 1178]
A.Â
No person shall make, continue, or cause to be made
or continued, any noise disturbance when such act creates a noise
disturbance as defined herein.
B.Â
The following acts, and the causing thereof, are declared
to be in violation of this chapter:
(1)Â
Horns and signaling devices. The sounding of any horn
or signaling device on any motor vehicle except as a danger warning
signal, except for wedding processions or as provided in the Vehicle
Code of the State of New Jersey.
(2)Â
Radios, television sets and similar devices. Operating
or permitting the use or operation of any radio, musical instrument,
television, phonograph, percussion instruments or other device for
the production or reproduction of sound, between the hours of 10:00
p.m. and the following 8:00 a.m. in such a manner as to be plainly
audible across property boundaries or through partitions common to
two parties within a building or plainly audible at 50 feet from such
device.
(3)Â
Loudspeakers. Using or operating any loudspeaker exterior
to any building or powered vehicle 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 the following
8:00 a.m.
(4)Â
Animals and birds. Owning, possessing or harboring
any animal or bird which frequently or for continued duration, howls,
barks, meows, squawks, or makes other sounds which create a noise
disturbance across a residential real property boundary or within
a noise-sensitive zone between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and the following
8:00 a.m.
(5)Â
Street sales. Offering for sale or selling anything
by shouting outcry, or audible signaling devices within any residential
or commercial area of the Borough between the hours of 10:00 p.m.
and the following 8:00 a.m.
(6)Â
Loading and unloading. Loading, unloading, opening,
closing or other handling of boxes, crates, containers, building materials,
garbage cans or similar objects between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and
6:30 a.m. the following day in such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance
across a residential real property boundary or within a noise-sensitive
zone.
(7)Â
Construction noise. Operating or causing to be operated
any equipment, other than hand tools or lawn or garden equipment,
for commercial construction, repair, alteration or demolition work
on buildings, structures, streets, alleys or appurtenances thereto,
in residential or commercial land uses, between the hours of 7:00
p.m. and 8:00 a.m. the following day on weekdays and between 7:00
p.m. Saturday night and 8:00 a.m. Monday morning and on legal holidays
except by permit.
(8)Â
Refuse collection. The collecting, transporting or
disposing of garbage, trash, cans, bottles, and other refuse by persons
engaged in the business of scavenging or garbage collection, whether
private or municipal, in a residential or commercial land area, or
in that portion of an industrial area within 100 feet of a residential
zone, between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. the following day
on weekdays and between 7:00 p.m. Saturday night and 8:00 a.m. Monday
morning, and on legal holidays except by permit.
(9)Â
Noise-sensitive zone. Creating any noise disturbance
within the quiet zone of any school, place of worship, library, hospital,
nursing home, or other designated areas where exceptional quiet is
necessary while the same are in use, providing conspicuous signs are
displayed in adjacent or contiguous streets, indicating that the same
is a quiet zone. The quiet zone areas will be delineated by resolution
of the Borough Council and appropriate signs erected indicating same.
Exception to this provision will be made only by permit.
(10)Â
Domestic power tools. Operating or permitting
the operation of any mechanically powered or electrically powered
saw, drill, sander, grinder, lawn or garden tool, or similar devices
outdoors in residential areas between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and
8:00 a.m. the following day so as to cause a noise disturbance across
a residential real property boundary.
(11)Â
Miscellaneous night noises. The warming up or
idling of buses, trucks, or tractors, and the unnecessary and repeated
idling, acceleration and deceleration, or starting and stopping of
motorcycles, between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. when such
noise is plainly audible across property boundaries or at 50 feet
from the motor vehicle when operated or parked on a public right-of-way
or on a public space.
(12)Â
Vehicle or motorboat repairs and testing. Repairing,
rebuilding, modifying or testing any motor vehicle, motorcycle, or
motorboat in such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance across
a residential real property boundary or within a noise-sensitive zone
between 10:00 p.m. and the following 8:00 a.m.
C.Â
Nothing in this section shall prevent the operation
of domestic power tools including lawn mowers and snowblowers between
the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. any day of the week.
No person shall operate or cause to be operated
on private property any source of sound in such a manner as to create
a sound level which exceeds the limits set forth for the receiving
land use category in Table 1 when measured at or within the property
of the receiving land use.
Table 1. Sound Levels for Receiving Land
Use
| ||
---|---|---|
Receiving Land Use Category
|
Time
|
Sound Level Limit
(dBA)
|
Residential
|
8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
|
65
|
10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.
|
50
| |
Commercial
|
At all times
|
65
|
Industrial
|
At all times
|
75
|
A.Â
The limits set forth above refer to steady noise;
however, in the event the noise is cyclically varying or is repetitive
and impulsive in character, the above limits shall be reduced by five
dBA.
[Amended by Ord. No. 1618]
For the purpose of this section, "motor vehicles"
shall include recreational motorized vehicles whether or not duly
licensed and registered including but not limited to commercial or
noncommercial racing vehicles, motorcycles, go-carts, automobiles,
mopeds, campers and dune buggies.
A.Â
Motor vehicles and motorcycles on public rights-of-way.
No person shall operate or cause to be operated a public or private
motor vehicle on a public right-of-way at any time in such a manner
that the sound level emitted by the motor vehicle or motorcycle exceeds
the level set forth in Table 2.
Table 2. Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle
Sound Limits
(measured at 50 feet or 15 meters)
| ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Sound Level in dBA
| ||||
Vehicle Class
|
Speed Limit 35 mph or Less
|
Time
|
Speed Limit 35 mph or More
| |
Interstate motor carrier
|
86
|
At all times
|
90
| |
All other motor vehicles with a manufacturers
gross vehicle rating of 10,000 pounds or more, and any combination
of vehicles towed by such motor vehicle
|
86
|
8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. weekdays
|
87
| |
75
|
At all other times
|
76
| ||
Motorcycles and any other motor vehicle and
any combination of vehicles towed by such motor vehicle
|
75
|
At all other times
|
75
|
B.Â
Measurement distance. For the purpose of this section,
the standard measurement of height shall be four feet or 1.2 meters
and the standard horizontal measurement distance from the center line
of the traffic lane being monitored shall be 50 feet or 15 meters.
Whenever it is not feasible to use 50 feet, the distance may be shortened
to 25 feet or 7.5 meters, in which case the values in Table 2 shall
be increased by six dBA.
C.Â
Maximum permissible noise levels for motor vehicles
and motorcycles operating off public rights-of-way. No person shall
operate a motor vehicle off a public-right-of-way in such a manner
that the sound level emitted therefrom exceeds 75 dBA when measured
at the standard horizontal measurement distance of 50 or 15 meters
from the motor vehicle and the standard measurement height of four
feet or 1.2 meters.
D.Â
Idling of vehicles; restrictions; exceptions.
(1)Â
No person shall cause, suffer, allow or permit the
motor of a diesel-powered or gasoline-powered vehicle to be in operation
for more than three consecutive minutes if the vehicle is not in motion,
except where the ambient temperature is 32° F. or less, then the
permitted period for idling shall be five consecutive minutes.
(2)Â
The provisions of Subsection D(1) shall not apply to:
(a)Â
Buses discharging or picking up passengers.
(b)Â
Vehicles stopped in a line of traffic.
(c)Â
Electric motor vehicles.
(d)Â
Noncommercial vehicles.
(e)Â
Emergency or construction vehicles in performance
of their prescribed function.
(f)Â
Vehicles whose primary and/or secondary power
source is utilized in whole or in part for necessary and definitively
prescribed mechanical operation other than propulsion.
(g)Â
Vehicles being repaired.
A.Â
Noise caused in the performance of emergency work
required to be done under
urgent necessity in the interest of public health and safety shall
be excepted from the provisions of this chapter as shall be the removal
of snow or ice or the use of emergency signaling or testing devices
by authorized governmental and quasi-governmental agencies.
B.Â
Further exceptions to this chapter may be granted
by the governmental authority authorized to grant permits for such
activities as band concerts, parades, block parties, fairs, flea markets,
charitable solicitation, use of public parks and playgrounds as set
forth in the permit, resolution, or ordinance governing such activities.
C.Â
Within the Central Business District Zone (CBD) as shown on the Borough of Highland Park Zoning Map as adopted by § 230-124 of the Code, outdoor music amplification, musical instruments and sound amplifying machines and devices creating a sound plainly audible at or beyond the property boundaries of businesses within the CBD or onto a public way shall be permitted Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and the night before a federal holiday up to and until 1:00 a.m.
[Added 10-18-2011 by Ord. No. 11-1824]
[Amended 2-7-1989 by Ord. No. 1178]
A.Â
Any person other than a governmental agency who shall
be found guilty of violating any provision of this chapter shall,
for the first or second offense, be fined in the sum of not more than
$200. Every day a violation exists shall constitute a separate offense.
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.
The Police Department, the Construction Official,
a Health Officer shall have the power to enforce or bring complaints
under this chapter.