[Ord. 813, 6/15/2000, § A]
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this Part,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
EMERGENCY
Any occurrence or set of circumstances involving actual or
imminent physical trauma or property damage.
NOISE DISTURBANCE
Any sound which (1) endangers or injures the safety or health
of humans or animals, or (2) annoys or disturbs a reasonable person
of normal sensitivities, or (3) endangers or injures personal or real
property.
PERSON
Any individual, association, partnership, corporation, or
other legally recognized entity. Whenever used in any subsection prescribing
and imposing a penalty, "person" includes any individual members,
partners, officers and managers, or any of them, of partnerships and
associations, and as to corporations, the officers and managers thereof
or any of them.
PLAINLY AUDIBLE
Any sound (including, but not limited to, bass reverberations)
produced by a sound-amplification system, musical instrument, similar
device or any other method or way which clearly can be heard at a
distance of 50 feet or more from its source. Words or phrases need
not be clearly discernible and/or understood for a sound to be plainly
audible.
PROPERTY LINE (BOUNDARY)
An imaginary line drawn through the points of contact of
adjoining lands, apartments, condominiums, townhouses and duplexes
owned, rented or leased by different persons; a demarcation or a line
of separation of properties; and also, for any two or more buildings
sharing common grounds, the line drawn midway between any two said
buildings. All areas devoted to public right-of-way shall be deemed
to be across the property line. For the purposes of this regulation,
the property line includes all points on a plane formed by projecting
the property line in a manner deemed appropriate by the enforcing
Borough official or employee.
PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY
Any street, avenue, boulevard, highway, sidewalk, alley or
similar place which is owned or controlled by a governmental entity.
PUBLIC SPACE
Any real property or structures thereon which are owned or
controlled by a governmental entity.
REAL PROPERTY
All land, whether publicly or privately owned, whether improved
or not improved, with or without structures, exclusive of any areas
devoted to the public right-of-way.
SOUND
An oscillation in pressure, particle displacement, particle
velocity, or other physical parameter, in a medium with internal forces
that causes compression and rarefaction of that medium, or the superposition
of such propagated oscillation which evokes an auditory sensation.
The description of sound may include any characteristics of such sound,
including duration, intensity and frequency.
SOUND-AMPLIFICATION SYSTEM
Any radio, tape player, compact disc player, loudspeaker,
or other device, electronic or otherwise, used for the amplification
or production of sound.
[Ord. 813, 6/15/2000, § B]
1. Noise Disturbance Prohibited. No person shall make, continue or cause
to be made or continued any noise disturbance, nor shall any person
suffer, allow or permit any noise disturbance to be made or continued
from or at any property, whether real or personal, that is subject
to such person's right to control.
2. Specific Prohibitions. The following acts, without limitation, and
the causing thereof, are declared to be noise disturbances and therefore
in violation of this Part:
A. Use or operation of, or permitting the use or operation of, any sound-amplification
system or other device designed or intended to produce or reproduce
sound in such a manner as to disturb the peace, quiet and comfort
of residential inhabitants or at any time with louder volume than
is necessary for convenient hearing by the person or persons who are
in a motor vehicle in which such sound-amplification system or other
device is operating and who are voluntary listeners thereto. The operating
of any such sound-amplification system or other device in a motor
vehicle, at any time, in such a manner as to be plainly audible at
a distance of 50 feet from the source shall be evidence of a violation
of this Part.
B. Any sound at any time in such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance
across a property line (boundary) between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and
7:00 a.m. so as to be plainly audible across a property line (boundary).
C. Yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling, singing or creating any other
noise disturbance on the public streets, public spaces, or public
rights-of-way at any time in such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance
across a property line (boundary) between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and
7:00 a.m. as to be plainly audible across a property line (boundary).
[Ord. 813, 6/15/2000, § C; as amended by Ord. 973,
2/18/2016]
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the operation of a sound amplification system within a vehicle operated by police, fire or emergency medical service agency or within a vehicle responding to an emergency or by a person participating in a public activity such as a parade, festival or fair, customarily regulated and/or sanctioned sporting event or a civic celebration, which produces plainly audible sounds shall not be in violation of this Part. The aforementioned public activities shall include any municipal, school or college sanctioned event held within the real property controlled by the person or entity. Voices or other noises, originating in the public space of a designated public park, as outlined in Chapter
16, during the park's authorized hours of operation, which are reasonable and related to the purpose of the park, shall not be in violation of this Part. The repair, construction or excavation of any utility such as sewer, water, natural gas, electric or other public utility during prohibited hours shall not be in violation of this Part. The provisions of this Part do not apply to a legal use classified by the Borough Zoning Ordinance (Chapter
27) within the Office-Industrial, General Industrial or General Commercial Zoning Districts.
The collection of municipal waste and/or trash shall be regulated
by other governing ordinances.
[Ord. 813, 6/15/2000, § D; as amended by Ord. 829,
11/15/2001]
Any person who shall violate any provision of this Part shall,
upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to a fine of not less than $50
nor more then $600 plus costs and, in default of payment of said fine
and costs, to a term of imprisonment not to exceed 30 days. Each day
in which a violation of this Part shall take place shall be deemed
a separate offense.