As used herein, the following terms shall have
the following meanings:
CONSTRUCTION and DEMOLITION
Any excavation, construction, land development or land-clearing
work, or the erection, demolition, alteration, repair or relocation
of any building or structure, which uses powered equipment such as
backhoes, trucks, tractors, earth-moving equipment, compressors, motorized
or power hand tools, manual tools or equipment of a similar nature;
or use of any equipment for recycling, screening, separating or any
other processing of soil, rocks, concrete, asphalt or other raw material.
Demolition includes any site preparation, assembly, erection, substantial
repair, alteration, destruction, removal or similar action affecting
public or private rights-of-way, structures, utilities or similar
property.
dBa
A-weighted sound level in decibels, as measured by a general
purpose sound level meter complying with the provisions of the American
National Standard Institute, Specifications for Sound Level Meter
(ANSI SIR 19711), properly calibrated, and operated on the A-weighting
network.
ENFORCING PERSON
A police officer, an agent or employee of the Board of Health
and/or the Building Commissioner.
LOUD AMPLIFICATION DEVICE OR SIMILAR EQUIPMENT
A radio, television, phonograph, stereo, record player, tape
player, cassette player, compact disc player, loudspeaker or sound
amplifier or any similar machine or device which produces sound which
is operated in such a manner that it creates unreasonable or excessive
noise.
LOUD, RAUCOUS AND DISTURBING NOISE
Any unnecessary sound which, because of its volume level, duration, character and/or the place where it occurs, annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, health, peace or safety of reasonable persons of ordinary sensibilities in the City of Fitchburg to an unreasonable extent while they are in their residences, public places or places open to the public as invites or licensees and, if referring to or affecting buildings, while any of these buildings are in use and occupied. The term never means or refers to any sound, including speech or entertainment sounds, which enjoys the protection of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Declaration of Rights, Part
1, Art.
XVI unless such sounds occur in violation of constitutionally
valid time, place and manner regulations or law.
NOISE
Undesirable sound, including that produced by persons, pets,
livestock, industrial equipment, construction, motor vehicles, boats,
aircraft, home appliances, electric motors, combustion engines and
any other noise-producing objects.
OWNER
Every person who alone or severally with others:
A.
Has legal title to any building, dwelling, dwelling
unit, rooming house, mobile dwelling unit, including a mobile home
park; or
B.
Has care, charge or control of any building,
dwelling, dwelling unit, rooming house, mobile dwelling unit, including
a mobile home park, in any capacity, including but not limited to
agent, executor, executrix, administrator, trustee or guardian of
the estate of the holder of legal title; or
C.
Is a mortgagee in possession of any such property;
or
D.
Is an agent, trustee or other person appointed
by the courts and vested with possession or control of any such property;
or
E.
Is an officer or trustee of the association
of unit owners of a condominium; or
F.
Every person who operates a rooming house, boarding
house, inn, motel or hotel.
PUBLIC PLACE
A place to which the public, or substantial group of people,
has access, including, but not limited to, streets, roads, public
highways, ways of public passage, parks, playgrounds, buildings, schools,
hospitals, places of business or amusement, places either designated
or used for quiet recreation or for the experience of the natural
environment or any residential neighborhood.
QUIET ZONE
The area within 500 feet of a hospital, school, courthouse
or church.
UNREASONABLE NOISE or EXCESSIVE NOISE and other forms of these
terms
A.
Noise measured in excess of 50 dBa between the
hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., or in excess of 70 dBa at all other
hours; or
B.
In the absence of an applicable noise level
regulation, any noise plainly audible at a distance of 300 feet or,
in the case of loud amplification devices of similar equipment, noise
plainly audible at a distance of 100 feet from its source by a person
within the range of normal hearing.
The sounding of any alarm or device whose purpose
it is to protect an owner's vehicle from damage and/or theft through
the mechanical creation of a note of sufficient magnitude to be plainly
audible at a distance of 200 feet from such device which does not
automatically terminate any such note within five minutes is declared
to be a nuisance and an unlawful noise in violation of this article.
Except as may be needed for public safety and
welfare, no person may construct or demolish a building, or perform
exterior alterations or repairs of any building, and/or excavate between
the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. on weekdays and upon the issuance
of and pursuant to a permit from the Building Commissioner, which
permit may be renewed for one or more periods not exceeding one week
each.
It is unlawful for any person, except in emergencies,
to operate any construction device(s), trucks or machines on any construction
site if the operation emits noise, measured at the lot line of a residential
lot, in excess of 50 dBa between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
It shall be unlawful for any person or persons
within the City of Fitchburg to disturb the peace by making, causing
or allowing to be made any unreasonable or excessive noise, including
but not limited to such noise resulting from the operation of any
radio, phonograph or sound-producing device, machine or instrument,
or from the playing of any band, orchestra or instrument, or from
the use of any device to amplify the noise, or from the making of
excessive outcries, exclamations or loud singing or any other excessive
noise by a person or group of persons, or from the use of any device
to amplify such noise; provided, however, that any performance, concert,
establishment, band, group or person who has received and maintains
a valid license or permit for such uses from any department, board
or commission of the City of Fitchburg authorized to issue such license
or permit shall be exempt from the provisions of this section. Noise
measured in excess of 50 dBa between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00
a.m., or in excess of 70 dBa at all other hours, when measured not
closer than the lot line of a residential lot or from the nearest
affected dwelling unit shall be deemed unreasonable or excessive noise.
Any person aggrieved by such disturbance of the peace may complain
to the police about such unreasonable or excessive noise. The police,
in response to each complaint, shall verify by use of the sound level
meter described herein that the noise complained of does exceed the
limit described herein and, if so, may thereupon arrest and/or make
application in the appropriate court for issuance of a criminal complaint
for violation of MGL c. 272, § 53, which sets forth the
penalties for disturbing the peace.
It shall be unlawful for any person in any area of the City to operate a loud amplification device or similar equipment, as defined in §
132-49, in or on a motor vehicle which is either moving or standing in a public way.
It shall be unlawful for any person in any area of the City to operate a loud amplification device or similar equipment, as defined in §
132-49, in a public way or in any other public place.
It shall be unlawful for any person in any area
of the City to operate a loud amplification device or similar equipment
in a dwelling house or on the land or other premises of such dwelling
house.
The following are exempted from the provisions of §§
132-48 through
132-59 and shall not be considered unreasonable or excessive noise for purposes of this section:
A. Noise from law enforcement motor vehicles during an
actual emergency.
B. Noise from emergency vehicles during an actual emergency.
C. Noise which a person is making or causing to be made
pursuant to a valid license or permit therefor from any department,
board or commission of the City; provided, however, that such noise
shall be permitted only to the extent allowed by the license or permit.
D. Sounds allowed or protected by the constitutions of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or the United States.
E. Noise made by a person which, in the circumstances
under which it is made, is reasonable.
If any section or subsection of this article
shall be held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction,
then such section or subsection shall be considered separately and
apart from the remaining sections or subsections of this article,
which shall remain in full force and effect.