Township of Fairview, PA Performance Standards

For any and all said purposes, the Supervisors may, as deemed best suited to carry out the purposes of this chapter, regulate and restrict the fire protection, electric service, noise, smoke, odors, air pollution, glare, erosion, vibration, water pollution, radioactive material and/or hazardous material within the districts defined and established pursuant to Chapter 395, Zoning. All such regulations shall be uniform throughout each district, but the regulations in one district may differ from those in another district.

The Board of Supervisors may from time to time on its own motion or petition, after public notice and hearing, amend the regulations herein established. If, after any public hearing held upon an amendment, the proposed amendment is revised to include items not previously affected by it, the Board of Supervisors shall hold another public hearing, pursuant to public notice, before proceeding to vote on the amendment.

§ 287-2 Purpose and objectives.

Purpose of the performance standard. For the purpose to secure safety from fire, panic and other danger; to promote health and general welfare; to avoid undue harm of the population; and to facilitate the adequate provisions of a healthy and clean environment, this performance standard is adopted. It is not the intent of this chapter to restrict, control, or place hardships upon the continued use of land within its area of jurisdiction and control.

The specific objectives of this chapter are a summary of the Board goals extracted from the Fairview Area Comprehensive Plan. They generally encompass the procedure outlined in the plan regarding the goals, future land use, thoroughfare plan, and community facilities. The community objectives relate to the physical resources, the environmental enhancement and the provision of the community identity.

Physical resources.

Balancing of land uses against current and anticipated needs.

Utilizing proper development procedures to eliminate waste and friction.

Provision of maximum return in comfort, convenience and services and a minimum of tax expenditures.

Enhancement of living condition.

Provision of amenities of greenery and open space.

The safeguard against blight and deterioration of property values.

Appropriate distribution of facilities and services.

(d)

Improvement of community appearance.

(3)

Community identity.

Designation of developmental focal point.

Emphasis upon order and cohesion to the development pattern.

EQUIVALENT SOUND LEVEL, L_eq

Maintenance to a degree economically and physically desirable.

§ 287-3 Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

ALLEY

A minor right-of-way providing secondary vehicular access to the side or rear of two or more properties.

ARTERIAL

Arterials bring traffic to and from the expressway and serve major movements of traffic within or through the areas not served by expressways. They serve primarily to move traffic, but also perform a secondary function of land service. The average length of trip normally exceeds three miles.

CARTWAY

That portion of the street right-of-way surfaced for vehicular use. Width is determined from face of curb to face of curb or from one edge of driving surface to the other edge of driving surface.

COLLECTOR

This class of road serves the internal traffic movement within the Township and connects developed areas with the arterial system. They do not accommodate long, through trips and are not continuous for any appreciable length. The principal difference between collector and arterial roads is the length of trip accommodated. The collector system is intended to simultaneously supply abutting property with the same degree of land service as a minor street and accommodate local internal traffic movements.

CUL-DE-SAC

A minor street with one end open to traffic and pedestrian access and permanently terminated by a vehicular turnaround.

DAY-NIGHT LEVEL, L_eq

The day-night level is the average A-weighted sound level with a 10 dB penalty added to nighttime (10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.) sound levels to account for more noise-sensitive activities during that period.

DECIBEL (dB)

A unit of sound level which is a division of a logarithmic scale used to express the ratio of the sound pressure of the source to the pressure of an arbitrarily chosen reference pressure, 2x10 Pa; the ratio is expressed on the decibel scale by multiplying its base 10 logarithm by 20.

ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

A person appointed by Fairview Township Board of Supervisors to investigate, inspect and enforce any and all provisions of this chapter.

The equivalent sound level is the level in dBA of hypothetical constant sound which represents the acoustic energy arriving at a given location over a period of time as the actual sound.

EXCESSIVE NOISE

That sound which is:

Injurious or which unreasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property, and

SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL, A-WEIGHTED (dBA)

Annoying to a person of ordinary sensibilities.

Measured noise levels in excess of limits established in this chapter or those specified in valid permits are declared to be excessive noise.

EXPRESSWAY

This class of highway facility is devoted entirely to the task of moving large volumes of traffic and performs little or no land service function. It is generally characterized by some degree of access control. Normally, this classification should be reserved for multilane, divided roads with few, if any, grade intersections.

FLUCTUATING NOISE

A noise in which sound levels vary significantly with time.

IMPULSIVE NOISE

Characterized by brief excursions of sound level. The duration of a single impulse is usually less than one second.

INTERMITTENT NOISE

Any noise whose sound level exceeds the ambient noise levels at least twice during a period of observation, which is one minute or more. The period of time during which the level of the noise remains at an essentially constant value different from that of the ambient is on the order of one second or more.

MARGINAL ACCESS

A street parallel and adjacent to an arterial or expressway providing access to abutting properties and control of intersections with the arterial or expressway.

MINOR

The minor streets' sole function is to provide access to immediately adjacent land. They normally represent a fairly large percentage of the total street mileage, but carry a small portion of the vehicle miles traveled daily.

NIGHTTIME

10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., prevailing time.

NOISE

Any sound emitted by a person, animal, appliance, equipment, instrument or other device.

RIGHT-OF-WAY

Any public highway, street or alley accepted by different levels of government for public use, usually the Board of Supervisors; all must be recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, Erie County, Erie, Pennsylvania.

The weighted average of the 1/3 octave band sound levels in the frequency range of human hearing sensitivity which constitutes a single-number rating and has been found to correlate well with people's subjective assessment of the loudness or noisiness of many types of sound and with hearing-damage risks due to continuous sound.

§ 287-4 Performance standards and requirements.

No use of land or structure in any district shall involve any element or cause any condition that may be dangerous, injurious or noxious to any other property or persons in the Township. Furthermore, every use of land or structure in any district must observe the following performance requirements:

Fire protection. Fire-protection and -fighting equipment acceptable to the Board of Fire Underwriters shall be readily available when any activity involving the handling or storage of flammable or explosive material is carried on.

Electric disturbance. No activity shall cause electrical disturbances adversely affecting radio, television or other communication equipment in the neighboring area. For the purposes of this chapter, such interference shall be defined as electromagnetic disturbances which are generated by the use of electrical equipment other than planned and intentional sources of electromagnetic energy which interfere with the proper operation of electromagnetic receptors of quality and proper design. All intentional sources of electromagnetic energy such as radios, radar equipment, etc., shall demonstrably comply with appropriate regulations of the Federal Communications Commission.

Noise.

General standards.

Noise which is determined to be objectionable because of intensity or frequency shall be muffled or otherwise controlled, except for fire sirens and related apparatus used solely for public safety purposes.

No person shall create or allow the creation of any noise; or operate or cause to be operated any source of sound, on property owned, leased, occupied or otherwise controlled by such person, which causes 10 minimum L_eq (10 minimum L_dn), when measured at or beyond the boundaries of the lot on which such activities take place, to exceed three dBA above the neighborhood background 10 minimum L_eq (10 minimum L_dn).

Special regulations.

No person shall create or permit to be created any sound which can be heard at the residence of any neighbor in any residential district, as follows:

[1]

Any amplified sound and/or any repetitive animal sound raising the background 10 minimum L_eq (10 minimum L_dn) by three dBA or more.

[2]

Sound from appliances or equipment raising the background 10 minimum L_eq (10 minimum L_dn) by three dBA or more except where exempt.

[3]

Sound from a party causing an increase of three dBA or more over the background 30 minimum L_eq (30 minimum L_dn).

[4]

Sound from any commercial or industrial activity, whether located in a residential or other district, causing an increase of three dBA or more over the background 10 minimum L_eq, (10 minimum L_dn).

Noise control in the industrial districts of the Township shall be in accordance with Chapter 252, Noise, Article I, Industrial Districts, of the Code of Fairview Township.

[Added 11-7-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-4]

(3)

Vehicles. No person shall operate either a motor vehicle of the type subject to registration, except police, fire equipment, ambulances, or other government emergency vehicles, at any time or under any condition in such a manner as to raise the background 30 minimum L_eq (30 minimum L_dn) by three dBA or more based on a distance of 50 feet from subject vehicle unless such vehicle conforms to the manufacturing standards under which the particular vehicle was built.

(4)

Equipment. No person shall operate any powered equipment or powered hand tool that produces a three dBA or more 10 minimum L_eq, (10 minimum L_dn) to the following background noise levels at a distance of 50 feet.

Type of Equipment	Background Measurement Level
Construction and industrial machinery such as crawler-tractors, dozers, rotary drills and augers, loaders, power shovels, cranes, derricks, motor graders, paving machines, off-highway trucks, ditchers, trenchers, compactors, scrappers, pavement breakers, truck loaders, conveyor belts, stone crushers, compressors and pneumatic power equipment, but not including pile drivers	10 minimum L_eq (10 minimum L_dn)
Agricultural tractors and equipment	10 minimum L_eq (10 minimum L_dn)
Powered commercial equipment of 2 HP or less intended for infrequent use in residential areas, such as chain saws, pavement breakers, log chippers, powered hand tools, etc.	10 minimum L_eq (10 minimum L_dn)
Powered equipment intended for repetitive use in residential areas such as lawn mowers, small lawn and garden tools, riding tractors, snow removal equipment, etc.	10 minimum L_eq (10 minimum L_dn)

(5)

Exemptions. Noise emitted from the following sources shall be exempt from the noise standards specified herein:

All safety signals and warning devices (e.g., intrusion alarms, back-up alarms on trucks); authorized vehicles when responding to emergencies (e.g., police, fire, ambulance sirens or any other device used to alert persons to an emergency or used during the conduct of emergency work).

The provision, repair and maintenance of municipal services or public utilities.