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Village of Spencerport, NY
Monroe County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Code
New Laws (2) Index Notes (1)
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Spencerport 1-17-1984 by L.L. No. 1-1984 (Ch. 84 of the 1988 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Animals — See Ch. 115.
Parades and assemblies — See Ch. 216.
Peddling and soliciting — See Ch. 227.
Discharge of firearms — See Ch. 326, Art. I.
Zoning — See Ch. 340.
A. 
The Village of Spencerport hereby intends to prohibit all excessive noise from all sources in order to preserve, protect and promote the public health, safety and welfare and the peace, quiet, comfort and repose of the inhabitants of the Village and visitors thereto and to human, plant and animal life and property and business, to foster the convenience and comfort of its inhabitants and facilitate the enjoyment of the natural attraction of the Village.
B. 
This chapter shall be liberally construed to provide an effective noise control program.
As used in this chapter, the following items shall have the meanings indicated:
A-SCALE
The measurement of sound approximating the auditory sensitivity of the human ear as measured with a sound-level meter using the A-weighing network. The unit of measurement is the dB(A).
CONSTRUCTION
Any or all activity, except tunneling, necessary or incidental to the erection, demolition, assembling, altering, installing or equipment of buildings, public or private highways, roads, premises, parks, utility lines (including such lines in already constructed tunnels) or other property, including land clearing, grading, excavating and filling.
DECIBEL
The unit of sound measurement, on a logarithmic scale, of the ratio of the magnitude of a particular sound pressure to a standard reference pressure which, for the purpose of this chapter, shall be 0.002 microbar.
EMERGENCY
A public calamity or an exposure of any person or property to imminent danger.
EMERGENCY SIGNAL DEVICE
Any gong, siren, whistle, air horn or similar device, the use of which on emergency vehicles is permitted by Subdivision 26 of § 375 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
EXCESSIVE NOISE
Any sound which endangers or injures the safety or health of humans or animals or annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivity or endangers or injures personal or real property.
MOTOR VEHICLE
Every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn, which is propelled by any power other than muscular power, except vehicles which run only upon rails or tracks. This definition shall include but not be limited to trucks, buses, automobiles, vans, motorcycles, motor-driven cycles, motor scooters, dune buggies, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, go-carts, minibikes, trail bikes and all other types of motorized recreational vehicles.
NOISE
Any erratic, intermittent, statistically random oscillation or unwanted sound.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, company, corporation, association, firm, organization, governmental agency, administration or department or any other group of individuals or any officer or employee thereof.
SOUND-REPRODUCTION DEVICE
A device intended primarily for the production or reproduction of sound, including but not limited to any radio receiver, television receiver, tape recorder, musical instrument, phonograph or sound-amplifying system.
No person shall make, continue or cause, or permit to be made or continued, any excessive noise.
No person shall operate or use, or cause to be operated or used, any sound-reproduction device for commercial or business advertising purposes; or for the purpose of attracting attention to any performance, show or sale or display of merchandise in connection with any commercial or business enterprise, including those engaged in the sale of radios, television sets, phonographs, tape recorders, phonograph records or tapes, in front or outside of any building, place or premises or in or through any aperture of such building, place or premises abutting on or adjacent to a public street, park or place; or in or upon any vehicle operated, standing or being in or on any public street, park or place where the sound therefrom may be heard upon any public street, park or place; or from any stand, platform or other structure; or from any airplane, or other device used for flying, flying over the Village; or on a boat or on the waters within the jurisdiction of the Village; or anywhere on the public streets, parks or places; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall prohibit vehicles from which ice cream products and similar products are sold from being equipped with a bell, not exceeding three inches in diameter, or a set of up to four such bells, nor prohibit the use thereof by the driver of such vehicle, provided that no such bell or set of bells shall be capable of being heard from a distance greater than 400 feet and provided further that no such bells shall be used for any purpose between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. or be used as an ordinary warning signal at any time.
No person shall cause the sounding of any horn or signaling device on any automobile, motorcycle, bicycle or other vehicle except as a danger warning.
No person shall operate or use, or cause to be operated or used, any emergency signal device except:
A. 
On an emergency vehicle when such vehicle is in the immediate act of responding to an emergency.
B. 
To give notice as a warning of an emergency.
C. 
In order to reasonably test such device.
A. 
No person shall operate, or cause to be operated, any motor vehicle in such a manner that the sound level emitted therefrom exceeds 80 dB(A) either at a distance of 25 feet or more from the path of the vehicle when operated on a public street or sidewalk or in a public park or other public place or at or beyond the property line when operated on private property. This subsection shall not apply to those motor vehicles being operated upon a public street to which § 386 of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law applies.
B. 
This section shall apply to all motor vehicles, whether or not duly licensed or registered.
No person shall engage in or permit any person to be engaged in construction activities which create excessive noise at the property limits of the construction site, between the hours of 9:00 p.m. one day and 7:00 a.m. of the following day, on any day of the week, except in the case of an emergency, as defined herein, where construction activities are directly connected to the abatement of such emergency.
A. 
Except as provided by Subsection D of this section, no persons shall operate, or permit to be operated, an air-conditioning or air-handling device that exceeds the maximum sound level limitations provided in this section.
B. 
In areas zoned residential, continuous sound in the air which has crossed the property line shall not exceed any of the following sound levels:
(1) 
Fifty-five dB(A) at any point.
(2) 
Fifty dB(A) outside of a living area window measured not more than three feet from the window opening.
C. 
In areas zoned for multiple dwellings or apartments, continuous sound in the air shall not exceed 50 dB(A) outside any living area window measured not more than three feet from the window opening.
D. 
The provisions of this subsection shall not apply if the sound from the air-conditioning or air-handling device produces an increase of less than five dB(A) in the sound level that exists in the absence of such a sound.
No person shall create, or permit to be created, any noise on any street, sidewalk or public place, or on private property adjacent to any school, institution of learning or church while the same is in use, or adjacent to any nursing home or home for the aged, which noise unreasonably interferes with the working of such school, institution of learning or church or which disturbs or annoys patients in a nursing home or home for the aged.
A. 
No person shall use or operate, or permit to be used or operated, any radio, television, phonograph, musical instrument or other machine or device for the producing, reproducing or amplification of sound with louder volume than is necessary for convenient hearing for the person or persons who are voluntary listeners thereto. It shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this section if sound emanating from such machine or device is:
(1) 
Audible beyond the property line of the premises upon which it is being used, between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.
(2) 
Audible at a distance of 50 feet beyond the property line of the premises upon which it is being used, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.
(3) 
Audible at a distance of 50 feet from such machine or device if operated from within a motor vehicle on a public street.
(4) 
Audible at a distance of 50 feet from such machine or device when operated in a public park or other public place.
B. 
The provisions of this section shall not apply to the following:
(1) 
Funeral processions or use of such devices by a church.
(2) 
The production of music in connection with any parade authorized under any provision of law.
(3) 
Any musical performance upon a public place where a permit has been obtained from the Village for such purpose.
(4) 
The use of amplifiers or other sound-producing activities, instruments or equipment in connection with any religious or political activity, any permitted athletic competition or recreational event held on athletic fields, stadiums or public places in the Village or the activities of local nonprofit organizations.
No person shall make, or permit to be made, excessive noise in connection with loading or unloading of any vehicle or the opening, unloading or destruction of bales, boxes, crates and containers.
No person shall keep or permit the keeping of any animal or bird which makes excessive noise.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: A resolution adopted 5-31-1990 provided that veterinary clinics shall be exempt from the provisions of this section.
A. 
Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a violation and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in an amount not exceeding $250 or be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 15 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Each day that such violation is committed or permitted to continue shall constitute a separate offense and shall be punishable as such.
[Amended 2-2-1988 by L.L. No. 1-1988]
B. 
Any person under the age of 16 years who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed to be a juvenile offender.
The operation of vehicles and equipment used by the Village of Spencerport in the performance of official duties shall be exempt from the requirements of this chapter until such time as vehicles and equipment capable of compliance are available and acquisition thereof is authorized by the Village Board.