It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to
make or continue, or cause or permit to be made or continued, any
loud, raucous, unnecessary or unusual noise which annoys, disturbs,
interferes with, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health,
peace or safety of others within the Village.
No person owning, ocupying or having charge of any building or premises or any part thereof in the Village of Kensington shall make or cause or permit to be made in such building or upon such premises any loud, raucous, unnecessary or unusual noise which is prohibited by §
97-1.
The following acts are declared to be prohibited under §§
97-1 and
97-2, but such enumeration shall not be deemed complete or inclusive:
A. The use or operation of any radio receiving set, television set,
musical instrument, phonograph or sound amplifier, air conditioner,
fan, lawn sprinkler or other similar mechanical device in such manner
as to create any sound or noise exceeding 35 decibels at the adjoining
property line.
B. The using, operating or permitting to be played, used or operated
of any radio receiving set, musical instrument, phonograph, loudspeaker,
sound amplifier, automobile horn or other machine or device for the
producing or reproducing of sound which is cast upon the public streets
for the purpose of commercial advertising or otherwise attracting
the attention of the public.
C. Yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling or singing on the public streets
between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. or at any time or place
so as to annoy or disturb the quiet, comfort or repose of any persons
in the vicinity.
D. The discharge into the open air of the exhaust of any internal-combustion
engine except through a muffler or other device which will effectively
prevent loud or explosive noises therefrom.
E. The use of any automobile, truck, motorcycle or vehicle so out of
repair, so loaded or in such manner as to create loud and unnecessary
grating, griding, rattling or other noise.
F. The operation of any pile driver, steam shovel, pneumatic hammer,
derrick, steam or electric hoist, bulldozer, large truck or trailer
truck or other vehicle or other construction equipment, the use of
which is attended by loud or unusual noise, except between the hours
of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. No such operation,
however, shall be conducted on public holidays established by federal
law.
[Amended 7-19-1989 by L.L. No. 15-1989; 11-19-2014 by L.L. No.
8-2014]
G. The erection, excavation, demolition, alteration, repair, and construction
of any building or structure, except between the hours of 8:00 a.m.
and 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. No such work, however, shall
be performed on Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays. Such work
may be permitted on a limited basis if, in the sole judgment of the
Village, it is required as an urgent necessity, in the interest of
public safety or in cases of extreme hardship. Permission must be
requested and approved prior to the work commencing.
[Amended 7-19-1989 by L.L. No. 15-1989; 11-19-2014 by L.L. No.
8-2014; 10-19-2022 by L.L. No. 3-2022]
For the purpose of §
97-4, the following definitions shall apply:
AMBIENT NOISE
All-encompassing noise associated with a given environment.
BAND PRESSURE LEVEL
The band pressure level of a sound from a specified frequency
band is the sound-pressure level for the sound contained within the
restricted band. The reference pressure must be specified.
BEL
A unit of level when the base of a logarithm is 10 and such
is restricted to levels of quantities proportional to power.
CYCLE
The complete sequence of values of a periodic quantity that
occur during a period.
DECIBEL
One-tenth of a bel and is a unit of level when the base of
the logarithm is the tenth root of 10 and the quantities concerned
are proportional to power.
DURATION
The duration of a transient noise from a machine during the
entire period when the transient noise is first distinguished from
the ambient noise until the noise from the same machine finally recedes
into the ambient noise shall be the period of time beginning when
the transient noise first exceeds a certain band pressure level until
it no longer exceeds the same band pressure level and provided that
it remains above the same band pressure level for at least 1/3 of
the total duration.
FREQUENCY
The frequency of a function periodic in time is the reciprocal
of the primitive period. The unit is the cycle per unit time and must
be specified.
MICROBARS
A unit of pressure commonly used in acoustics and is equal
to one dyne per square centimeter.
NOISE
Any increase in the ambient noise, measured as provided in §
97-4, caused by any device referred to in said section.
SOUND ANALYZER
A device for measuring the band pressure level or pressure
spectrum level of a sound as a function of frequency.
SOUND-LEVEL METER
An instrument, including a microphone, an amplifier, an output
meter and frequency weighting networks, for the measure-meter and
frequency weighting in the manner provided by this Article.
SOUND-PRESSURE LEVEL
The sound-pressure level, in decibels, of a sound is 20 times
the logarithm to the base 10 of the ratio of the pressure of this
sound to the reference pressure, which reference pressure must be
explicitly stated.
SPECTRUM
A function of time and is a description of its resolution
into components, each of different frequency, and is also used to
signify continuous range of components usually wide in extent within
which waves have some specified characteristics, such as audiofrequency
spectrum, and is also applied to functions of variables other than
time.
STEADY NOISE
Any noise having a duration in excess of one minute shall
be considered a steady noise and the limits of Table II of this Article
shall apply.
TRANSIENT NOISE
Any noise having a duration of one minute or less shall be
considered a transient noise and the limits of Table I of this Article
shall apply.