[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Fenton 11-1-2000
by L.L. No. 4-2000. Amendments noted where applicable.]
It is hereby declared to be the public policy of the Town of Fenton
to reduce the ambient noise level in the Town so as to preserve, protect and
promote the public health, safety and welfare, and the peace and quiet of
the inhabitants of the Town, prevent injury to human, plant and animal life
and property, foster the convenience and comfort of its inhabitants, and facilitate
the enjoyment of the natural attractions of the Town. It is the public policy
of the Town that every person is entitled to ambient noise levels that are
not detrimental to life, health and enjoyment of his or her property. It is
hereby declared that the making, creation or maintenance of excessive or unreasonable
noises within the Town affects and is a menace to public health, comfort,
convenience, safety, welfare and the prosperity of the people of the Town.
The provisions and prohibitions hereinafter contained and enacted are for
the above-mentioned purpose.
This chapter shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate the purposes
described in this chapter. Nothing herein shall abridge the powers and responsibilities
of any police department, law enforcement agency or code enforcement department
to enforce the provisions of this chapter. Nothing herein shall be construed
to abridge the emergency powers of any health department, code enforcement
department or the right of such department to engage in any necessary or proper
activities.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
The all-encompassing noise associated with a given environment, being
usually a composite of sounds from many sources.
A group of commercial facilities and the abutting public right-of-way
and public spaces.
Any premises, property, or facility involving traffic in goods or
furnishings of services for sale or profit, including but not limited to:
Dining and/or drinking establishments.
Banking and other financial institutions.
Establishments for providing retail services.
Establishments for providing wholesale services.
Establishments for recreation and entertainment.
Office buildings.
Transportation.
Warehouses.
Hotels and/or motels.
Any nonresidential facility used to provide services to the public,
including but not limited to:
Any activity necessary or incidental to the erection, demolition,
assembling, altering, installing or equipping of buildings, public or private
highways, roads, parks, utility lanes or other property, including but not
limited to related activities such as land clearing, grading, earthmoving,
excavating, blasting, filling and landscaping, but not including agriculture.
Any sound that is not impulse sound.
Any dismantling, intentional destruction, or removal of buildings
or structures.
Any occurrence or circumstance involving actual or imminent physical
or property damage which demands immediate action.
Any sound signal device that is to warn of an emergency.
Any work or action necessary to deliver essential 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 of waterways or abating life-threatening conditions.
A sound which is neither part of the neighborhood residual sound
nor comes from the source under investigation.
Any activity and its related premises, property, facilities, or equipment
involving the fabrication, manufacture, or production of durable or nondurable
goods.
Any vehicle that is propelled other than by human or animal power.
A properly functioning sound dissipation 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 sounds of such level and duration as to be or tend to be injurious
to human health or welfare, or which would unreasonably interfere with the
enjoyment of life or property throughout the Town of Fenton.
Any sound which endangers or injures the safety or health of humans
or animals, or annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensibilities,
or endangers or injures personal or real property.
Any individual, association, partnership, corporation or other entity
and includes any officer, employee, department or agency of the above.
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 enforcement officer need not determine the
title, specific words, or the artist performing the song.
Any street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, sidewalk or alley that
is leased, owned, controlled or maintained by a governmental entity, no matter
how designated.
Any facility and its related premises, property, or equipment used
to provide governmental services to the public, including, but not limited
to:
Any facility and its related premises, property, or equipment used
to provide industrial governmental services to the public, including, but
not limited to:
Any real property or structures thereof 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, or the vertical and horizontal
boundaries of a dwelling unit that is one in a multi-dwelling-unit building.
A group of residential properties and the abutting rights-of-way
and public spaces.
Property used for human habitation.
An oscillation in pressure, particle displacement, particle velocity
or other physical parameter, in a medium with internal forces that causes
compression and rarefaction of that medium. The description of sound may include
any characteristic of such sound, including duration, intensity and frequency.
Any device that is designed to be used or is actually used for the
production or reproduction of sound, including but not limited to any amplified
musical instrument, radio, television, tape recorder, phonograph, loudspeaker,
public address system or any other sound-amplifying device.
Any person, animal, device, operation, process, activity, or phenomenon
which emits or causes sound.
Any sound which is defined in § 102-4 as unreasonable.
An oscillatory motion of solid bodies of deterministic or random
natures described by displacement, velocity or acceleration with respect to
a given reference point.
A.
Unreasonable noise prohibited. No person shall make,
cause, allow, or permit to be made an unreasonable noise within the geographical
boundaries of the Town or within those areas over which the Town has jurisdiction,
including the waters, rivers and riverbanks adjacent to, abutting or bordering
the Town.
B.
Specific acts considered to be unreasonable noise. Any
of the following acts or causes thereof which either annoy, disturb, injure
or endanger the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of a reasonable person
of normal sensibilities are declared to be in violation of this chapter and
to constitute unreasonable noise:
(1)
Using or operating, between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and
8:00 a.m., any sound reproduction device for commercial or business advertising
purposes or for the purposes of attracting attention to any performance, show
or sale or display of merchandise in connection with any commercial operation
in front of or outside any building, place or premises, or through any aperture
of such building, place or premises, abutting on or adjacent to any public
right-of-way, or in or upon any vehicle operated, standing or being in or
on any public right-of-way, or from any stand, platform or other structure,
or anywhere on any public right-of-way.
(2)
Causing or permitting the operation of any device, vehicle,
construction equipment or lawn maintenance equipment, including but not limited
to any diesel engine, internal combustion engine or turbine engine, without
a properly functioning muffler.
(3)
Causing a vehicular sound reproduction system to be plainly
audible at a residential property line between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and
8:00 a.m. the following day.
(4)
Causing a sound reproduction device to be plainly audible
beyond the source property line.
Regardless of the sound level, the provisions of this chapter shall
not apply to:
A.
Sound and vibration emitted for the, purpose of alerting
people in an emergency.
B.
Sound and vibration emitted in the performance of correcting
an emergency.
C.
Sounds created by church bells or chimes, when a part
of a religious observance or service.
D.
Sounds created by any public entity, fire company or
department, or police agency by the use of public warning devices or in connection
with a public emergency.
E.
Noise from domestic power tools, lawn mowers, and agriculture
equipment when operated with a muffler between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and
9:00 p.m.
F.
Noise from snow blowers, snow throwers, and snow plows
when operated with a muffler for the purpose of snow removal.
G.
Noise from an exterior burglar alarm of any building
or motor vehicle.
H.
Noise from construction activity, provided all motorized
equipment used in such activity is equipped, where applicable, with functioning
mufflers.
I.
Noise generated by municipality sponsored concerts and
special events designed to promote the health, safety or welfare of the citizens
of the Town of Fenton, as well as noise generated by events held at or within
the confines of stadiums, arenas or fields designed specifically and primarily
for sporting events and which are open to the public.
J.
Noise generated by events of bona fide charitable organizations
organized under the New York State Not-For-Profit-Corporation Law.
The noise control requirements established by § 102-4 shall be administered and enforced severally, separately and jointly by the Town of Fenton Code Enforcement Officer, the Broome County Sheriff's Department and the New York State Police. Violation of any provision of this chapter shall be cause for an appearance ticket to be issued. This chapter is complaint driven and as such requires that a violation hereunder be complained of to either the Town of Fenton Code Enforcement Officer, the Broome County Sheriff's Department or the New York State Police before enforcement hereunder may occur. The complaint must describe the violation and the complaint must provide the enforcement authority with the address of the aggrieved property. The complaint must have some legally recognized interest in the aggrieved property, including but not limited to ownership or tenancy.
A.
Any person who violated any provision of § 102-4 shall be deemed guilty of an offense and, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to penalties in the following manner:
(1)
Upon a first conviction, by a fine of not less than $25
and not more than $250.
(2)
Upon a second conviction, by a fine of not less than
$100 and not more than $1,000.
(3)
Upon a third or subsequent conviction, by a fine of not
less than $250 and not more than $3,000 or by imprisonment for a period not
to exceed 15 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
B.
If the violation is of a continuing nature, each eight-hour
period during which it occurs shall constitute an additional, separate and
distinct offense.
A.
The Town Board shall have the authority to grant special variances for limited times and purposes of this chapter. Any person seeking a special variance pursuant to this § 102-8 shall file an application with the Board. The application shall consist of a letter signed by the applicant and shall contain a legal form of verification. Such letter shall contain information which demonstrates that bringing the source of sound or activity for which the variance is sought into compliance with this chapter would constitute an unreasonable hardship on the applicant, on the community or on other persons. In addition, the following information shall be provided:
(1)
The plans, specifications and any other information pertinent
to the source of sound and vibration.
(2)
The characteristics of the sound and vibration emitted
by the source, including but not limited to the expected sound levels and
the day(s) and hours during which such vibration and sound is to be generated.
(3)
The noise abatement and control methods to be used to
restrict the emissions of the sound and vibration.
(4)
A time schedule for the installation of noise abatement
and control devices, technology and procedures or process modifications that
will be followed to restrict the emissions of sounds and vibrations.
(5)
The name and address of the applicant and the applicant's
agent, if any, and whether the applicant is the owner, lessee, licensee, etc.,
of the premises. If the applicant is not the owner, the application must contain
the written consent of the owner.
(6)
The names and addresses of all owners of contiguous land
within 500 feet of the premises. The applicant, in like manner, shall give
notice of the application by certified mail, return receipt requested, to
all property owners surrounding the sound source site within a radius of 500
feet from the borders of said site.
(7)
A filing fee of $100.
(8)
The requested duration of the permit.
B.
Public hearing and decision. Upon prior reasonable public
notice published in the official newspaper of the Town of Fenton and upon
a public notice board designated for that purpose by the Town Clerk for a
minimum of 10 days, the Town Board shall hold a public hearing on the special
variance application. The Board, upon reviewing all input from the public
hearing and obtaining any additional data or information as deemed necessary,
shall then pass upon the application by resolution. The decision shall be
transmitted to the Town Clerk, who will advise the applicant of such decision
by transmitting a copy of the special variance application to the applicant,
with the decision and conditions, if any, imposed by the Town Board attached.
C.
This chapter does not preclude the necessity of the applicant
to obtain the approval or permit required by any other agency before proceeding
with the action approved under the approved special variance. No action may
be initiated by the applicant until such time that other permits, as may be
required, are issued.
D.
The applicant or his agent shall have readily available
the approved special variance at the location or site for which the variance
has been issued and shall show same to any agent of the Town of Fenton or
any police officer whenever requested.
E.
Activity conducted under the special variance shall be
open to inspection at any time by any agent of the Town of Fenton.
F.
In determining whether to grant or deny the application,
the Board shall balance the hardship to the applicant, the community, and
other persons if the variance is not granted against the adverse impact on
the health, safety and welfare of persons affected, the adverse impact on
the property affected and any other adverse impacts if the variance is granted.
G.
The Board shall have the power to impose restrictions,
conditions and the recording of covenants upon any sound source site, including
time limits on permitted activity in the event that it shall grant any variance
hereunder.
