[Adopted 11-18-2008 by Ord. No. 157-08]
A.
Findings. Excessive noise and sound are serious hazards
to the public health, welfare, safety and quality of life. The people
have a right to, and should be ensured, an environment free from excessive
and unnecessary sound, noise and vibration that may jeopardize their
health, welfare, safety and quality of life. The people of Fitchburg
have the right to freedom from excessive and unnecessary noise, and
the enjoyment of the natural and aesthetic qualities of their environment,
as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Commonwealth, Articles of
Amendment, Art. XLIX.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: This article has been superseded
by Art. XCVII of the Articles of Amendment.
B.
Intent and purpose. It is the intent and purpose of
this article to prevent excessive and unnecessary noise, sounds and
vibration and to limit, control and/or eliminate them from whatever
source.
C.
Construction. This article is intended to prohibit
preventable and unnecessary noise and is not intended, nor shall it
be construed, to regulate the usual and customary noise incidental
to urban life. When determining whether noise is unnecessary or unreasonable,
due consideration shall be given to the geographic area of the City
in which the sounds occur, the ambient noise in the area where the
sounds occur, the time of day when the sounds occur and the customary
sounds incidental to the operation of businesses or industries permitted
in the area so as not to work an unreasonable hardship on the conduct
of lawful activities or business. It is the intent of the City of
Fitchburg to prohibit certain behaviors and conduct described in this
article and to do so consistent with the constitutions of the United
States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the statutes of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Any ambiguity or doubt in interpreting
or construing any section, word or provision of this article shall
be resolved in a manner to further this expressed intent of this article
and not to interfere with any speech or communication allowed or protected
by the constitutions of Massachusetts and the United States.
D.
Scope. This article shall apply to the control of
all sound and vibration originating within the City, unless otherwise
exempted by law.
As used herein, the following terms shall have
the following meanings:
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.
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.
A police officer, an agent or employee of the Board of Health
and/or the Building Commissioner.
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.
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[1] unless such sounds occur in violation of constitutionally
valid time, place and manner regulations or law.
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.
Every person who alone or severally with others:
Has legal title to any building, dwelling, dwelling
unit, rooming house, mobile dwelling unit, including a mobile home
park; or
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
Is a mortgagee in possession of any such property;
or
Is an agent, trustee or other person appointed
by the courts and vested with possession or control of any such property;
or
Is an officer or trustee of the association
of unit owners of a condominium; or
Every person who operates a rooming house, boarding
house, inn, motel or hotel.
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.
The area within 500 feet of a hospital, school, courthouse
or church.
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
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.
[1]
Editor's Note: This article has been superseded
by Art. LXXVII of the Articles of Amendment.
A.
It is unlawful and a public nuisance for any person
or group of persons, regardless of number, to willfully or intentionally
make or continue, to cause to be made or continued, any loud, raucous
and disturbing noise.
B.
In addition to the general prohibition in Subsection A above, the following acts, among others, are hereby declared to be loud, raucous and disturbing noises and nuisances in violation of this article, but this enumeration shall not be deemed to be exclusive:
(1)
The continuous sounding of any horn, bell or other
signal or warning device on any motor vehicle, motorcycle, bus or
other vehicle, except as a danger or warning signal;
(2)
The use of any motorcycle or vehicle which is so out
of repair or so maintained, modified or having an amplified sound
system or loaded with materials that it creates unreasonably loud
engine noises, including but not limited to grating, grinding, rattling,
banging, clattering or other noise unnecessary to the normal operation
of the vehicle;
(3)
The creation of a loud and excessive noise caused
by loading or unloading of any construction trucks or vehicles, or
the operation of their backup warning signals, between the hours of
7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.;
(4)
The making of any unnecessary noise by a person or
by the operation of any instrument, device or vehicle, the performance
of any construction or demolition activity or the operation of any
mechanical, electrical, pneumatically or hydraulically powered or
battery-operated apparatus in connection with any construction or
demolition activity between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. within
1,000 feet of places of residence or the grounds and premises on which
is located a hospital or other institution reserved for the sick,
aged or infirm;
(5)
Noise measured in excess of 45 dBa between the hours
of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., or in excess of 55 dBa at all other hours.
C.
It is unlawful and declared to be a public nuisance
for any person, by himself or herself, or another, to operate or maintain
any loud amplification device, radio, phonograph, player-piano, calliope
or other noise-making, noise-amplifying or noise-producing instrument
or devices in any public or private place in such manner by which
the peace and good order or the neighborhood is disturbed or by which
persons owning or occupying property in the neighborhood are disturbed
or annoyed.
[Amended 6-3-2014 by Ord. No. 100-2014]
E.
Emergency utility or other emergency repair work beneficial
to the public health or safety, such as restoring electric power lines
or a water or sewer main, is exempt from this article. The Director
of Public Works may grant an exemption to the prohibitions of this
article if such an exemption is justified and necessary for the health,
convenience and/or safety of the public or any person. A person desiring
to obtain an exemption must apply to the Building Commissioner for
a permit allowing the exemption from the standards of this article
as to construction and demolition.
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.
A.
This article may be enforced by any police officer,
any special police officer designated by the Chief of Police to do
so or by any designee of the Board of Health or of the Building Commissioner.
These officials are also directed to seek injunctive relief in proper
cases in a court having jurisdiction to issue such injunctions.
B.
The Director of Public Works shall place appropriate
signs within quiet zones calling attention to the prohibition against
unnecessary noise therein.
A.
Any person who violates the provisions of the noise
control ordinance shall, for the first offense, be fined $50. The
enforcing person shall make a record of the complaint. Such record
will include the following information (to the extent that it is available):
name and address of person violating; name and address of landlord,
if applicable; date; time; motor vehicle registration number, if applicable;
and location of the violation. If the violator refuses to give the
above-noted information or if any information proves false, said person
shall be punished by a fine of an additional $50. The enforcing person
shall give the violator a notice of the violation and fine, and the
violation and fine may be disposed of pursuant to MGL c. 40, § 21D.
B.
Any person who commits a second violation of this
article shall be punished by a fine of $100 for the second offense,
$200 for the third offense, and $300 for the fourth and subsequent
offenses committed within a twelve-month period. All fines hereunder
may be recovered by the noncriminal disposition procedures as provided
in MGL c. 40, § 21D; provided, however, that if a violator
fails to follow the procedures and requirement of said § 21D,
the fine or fines shall be recovered by complaint in a court of appropriate
jurisdiction.
C.
No owner of real property shall permit or allow repeated
violations of this article to occur on his or her property. If a violation
of this article occurs within, on or at a building, the enforcing
person shall notify the owner, in writing, of the violation and the
name(s) of the persons found to have been committing the violation.
The owner shall take reasonable steps to prevent the occurrence of
another violation in, on or at the property. A property in or at which
three or more violations of this article occur within any twelve-month
period is deemed to constitute a public nuisance. The owner of a property
who, after notice, has failed to take reasonable steps to stop the
violations from occurring violates this article. Such person shall
be punished at the time of the third such violation, and every violation
thereafter within 12 months of the first violation by a fine of $200
in the case of the third, and $300 for each thereafter. It shall be
a defense that the owner, a landlord or person in charge of a residential
structure shall have made good faith effort, including the seeking
of a court order, to prevent violations.
[Amended 6-3-2014 by Ord. No. 100-2014]
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.
