Borough Council finds that excessive levels of sound are detrimental
to the physical, mental and social well-being of the people as well
as to their comfort, living conditions, general welfare and safety,
and being therefore a public health and welfare hazard, hereby declares
it to be necessary to provide for the greater control and more effective
regulation of excessive sound and the sources of excessive sound within
the Borough.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter,
shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context clearly indicates a different meaning.
BOROUGH
The Borough of West Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
CONSTRUCTION OPERATION
The erection, repair, renovation, demolition or removal of
any building or structure; and the excavation, filling, grading and
regulation of lots in connection therewith.
EMERGENCY
Any occurrence or set of circumstances involving actual or
imminent physical trauma or property damage.
EMERGENCY WORK
Any work performed for the purpose of preventing or alleviating
the physical trauma or property damage threatened or caused by an
emergency.
NOISE
Any sound which annoys or disturbs humans or animals or which
causes or tends to cause an adverse psychological or physiological
effect on humans or animals.
NOISE DISTURBANCE
Any sound which:
A.
Endangers or injures the safety or health of humans or animals.
B.
Annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivities.
C.
Endangers or injures a personal or real property.
D.
Is audible on a public street for a distance of 50 feet from
the place or origin of such sound or noise.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, association, partnership, corporation
or other entity, including the officers, employees, departments, agencies
and instrumentalities of a state or any political subdivision of a
state. Whenever used in any section prescribing and imposing a penalty,
"person" includes the individual members, owners, partners, officers
and managers of a partnership, association or other similar entity
and the officers of a corporation or similar entity.
POWERED MODEL VEHICLE
Any self-propelled airborne, waterborne or landborne plane,
vessel or vehicle which is not designed to carry persons, including
but not limited to any model airplane, boat, car or rocket.
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, for any two or more buildings sharing
common grounds, the line drawn midway between any two such buildings.
All areas devoted to public right-of-way shall be deemed to be across
the property line. For the purpose of this definition, the property
line includes all points on a plane formed by projecting the property
line in a manner deemed appropriate by the enforcing police officer.
PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY
Any street, road, 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 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.
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.
The following acts, and the causing thereof, are declared to
be noise disturbances and, therefore, in violation of this chapter.
A. Radios, television sets, musical instruments and similar devices.
Operating or playing, or permitting the operation or playing of, any
radio, television, phonograph, drum, musical instrument, sound amplifier,
automobile radio, automobile stereo or high fidelity equipment, disc
or tape player, loudspeaker or any other similar device, not in connection
with the lawful operation of an emergency vehicle such as an ambulance,
police or fire vehicle, nor in connection with a lawfully permitted
parade, public assembly or other activity for which a permit is issued
by the duly constituted legal authority, or similar device which produces,
reproduces or amplifies sound:
(1) At any time in such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance across
a property line (boundary), or between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and
7:00 a.m. so as to be plainly audible across a property line (boundary);
or which is audible on a public street for a distance of 50 feet from
the place or origin of such sound or noise.
(2) In such a manner as to create a noise disturbance across a property
line (boundary) or at 50 feet from such device, whichever is less,
when the device is operated in or on a motor vehicle, or hand carried,
on a public right-of-way or public space.
(3) In such a manner as to create a noise disturbance to any person other
than the operator of the device, when operated by a passenger on a
common carrier.
B. Yelling or shouting. Engaging in loud or raucous yelling, shouting,
hooting, whistling or singing:
(1) On the public streets between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
(2) At any time or place in such a manner as to create a noise disturbance.
C. Construction tools or equipment. Operating or permitting the operation
of any tools or equipment used in construction operations, drilling
or demolition work:
(1) On weekdays and Saturdays between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00
a.m. of the following day, or at any time on Sundays or legal holidays,
such that the sound thereof creates a noise disturbance across a residential
real property line (boundary), except for emergency work.
(2) This Subsection
C shall not apply to the use of domestic power tools as hereinafter provided in Subsection
D hereof.
D. Domestic power tools. Operating or permitting the operation of any
mechanically powered saw, drill, sander, grinder, lawn or garden tool,
snowblower or similar device used outdoors in residential areas between
the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. on Mondays through Sundays so
as to cause a noise disturbance across a residential property line
(boundary), except in an emergency.
E. Loading and unloading. Loading, unloading, opening, closing or other handling of boxes, crates, containers, building materials, garbage cans, dumpsters or similar objects between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. the following day in such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance across a residential property line (boundary). This Subsection
E shall not apply to municipal or utility services in or about the public right-of-way.
[Amended 11-19-2019 by Ord. No. 1117]
F. Animals and birds. For regulations regarding noise made by animals and birds, see §
152-13, Noise.
[Amended 3-20-2018 by Ord. No. 1080]
G. Powered model vehicles. Operating or permitting the operation of
powered model vehicles so as to create a noise disturbance across
a residential property line (boundary) between the hours of 10:00
p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
H. Street sales. Offering for sale or selling by shouting or outcry
or by any other amplified or unamplified sound within any residential
or commercial area of the Borough.
I. Tampering. The following acts or the causing thereof are prohibited:
(1) The removal or rendering inoperative by any person, other than for
the purposes of maintenance, repair or replacement, of any muffler
or sound-dissipative device or element of design or noise label of
any product.
(2) The use of a product which has had a muffler or sound-dissipative
device or element of design or noise label removed or rendered inoperative,
with knowledge that such action has occurred.
J. Vehicle, motorboat or aircraft repairs and testing. Repairing, rebuilding,
or testing any motor vehicle, motorcycle or aircraft in such a manner
as to cause a noise disturbance across a residential real property
line (boundary).
Prima facie evidence of a noise disturbance shall exist if the noise from any of the acts prohibited in §§
284-3 through, and including, 284-5 of this chapter:
A. Disturbs two or more residents who are in general agreement as to
the times and durations of the noise and who reside in separate residences,
including apartments and condominiums located within the same building,
located across a property line (boundary) from the property on which
the source of the noise is generated.
B. Is solely witnessed/observed by a police officer when citing any
section hereunder.
[Amended 11-19-2019 by Ord. No. 1117]
This chapter shall be enforced by the Borough Police and Code
Enforcement Departments.