[Ord. 108-2004, 8/11/2004, § 100.1]
The purpose of this Part is to provide for the peace, good order
and dignity of the Township by prohibiting specified activities which
create a nuisance or otherwise disturb the peace. The authority for
this Part is contained within § 1529 of the Second Class
Township Code, 53 P.S. § 66529.
[Ord. 108-2004, 8/11/2004, § 100.2]
1. "Disturbing the peace," within the meaning of this Part, shall constitute
the making, causing or permitting to be made, anywhere within the
Township, any unnecessary noise, clamor, din or other sounds which
tend to disturb the good order, quiet and dignity of the Township,
including the operation of any business, trade, industry, transportation,
recreation and amusement, at a time, in a place or in such a manner
to cause unnecessary noise and disturbance within the Township. Except
in cases of emergency, any and all such noises, activities and disturbances
are hereby prohibited, even though such noises are: (A) no louder
than is customary, (B) unavoidable, (C) those noises usually attendant
upon the ordinary use and occupation of premises or equipment situate
thereon or attendant upon the ordinary operation or performance of
business, trade, industry, transportation, recreation or amusement,
if made at such times other than those times usual and customary for
the work and activity performed so that such noises and disturbances
cause disturbance of the peace in the Township.
2. The following particular conduct shall be, within the meaning of
this Part, considered disturbing the peace without in any manner intending
to limit or restrict the activities above defined as disturbing the
peace:
A. The unnecessary sounding of motor vehicle horns, sirens, bells, whistles
or other similar devices.
B. The operation of radios or other similar mechanical instruments or
singing, shouting or the playing of musical instruments at a time
or in a manner which unduly and unnecessarily disturbs the peace of
the immediate neighborhood.
C. The discharging on, over or across any street, highway or road of
air guns, spring guns, rifles or firearms of any kind or nature.
D. The occurrence of loafing or loitering along public ways or on footpaths
or at public places within the Township or acting or congregating
thereon:
(1)
In a noisy, loud, boisterous and unseemly manner or in such
other manner as to disturb the peace.
(2)
While being visibly under the influence of intoxicating liquor
or otherwise conducting oneself so as to present an unruly, immoral,
unseemly or improper appearance.
(3)
When uttering vulgar, profane or immoral, abusive language in
such a fashion as to attract the attention or cause annoyance to the
public.
[Ord. 108-2004, 8/11/2004, § 100.3]
1.
Definitions. For the purpose of
this section, the following words, terms and phrases shall have the
meanings indicated herein:
AMBIENT NOISE LEVEL
The all encompassing background noise associated with a given
environment without the sound contribution of the specific source
in question.
CONSECUTIVE TIME BLOCK
A measurement of time, beginning with the first minute a
noise source is detectable, including each successive minute and concluding
with the 120 successive minute, irrespective of the actual number
of minutes the noise source is detectable.
DECIBEL
A standard unit for measuring the sound pressure level according
to standard scientific principles. Standard notation is dB.
EMERGENCY
Any occurrence or set of circumstances involving actual or
imminent physical trauma or property damage which demands immediate
action.
MOTOR VEHICLE
As defined in the Commonwealth's Motor Vehicle Code,
75 Pa.C.S.A. § 101 et seq.
MOTORIZED OFF-ROAD VEHICLE
A motorized conveyance not designed, intended or licensed
for use on or within a public street or right-of-way including, but
not limited to, motorcycles, motorized scooters and four wheeled go-carts.
NOISE
Any sound emitted by a person, an appliance, equipment, an
instrument, other device or animal.
NOISE DISTURBANCE
Any noise which:
(1)
Endangers or injures the safety or health of humans or animals.
(2)
Willfully, recklessly or negligently annoys or disturbs a reasonable
person of ordinary sensibilities.
(3)
Jeopardizes the value of property and/or erodes the integrity,
peace or good order of the environment.
(4)
Is in excess of the allowable noise levels established in Subsection
4 of this section.
NOISE PLAINLY AUDIBLE
Noise for which the information content of that noise is
unambiguously communicated to the listener, such as but not limited
to, spoken speech or musical rhythms.
POWERED MODEL VEHICLE
Any powered vehicle, either airborne, waterborne or landborne,
which is not designed to carry persons or property, such as, but not
limited to, model airplanes, boats, cars, or rockets propelled by
mechanical means.
PROPERTY BOUNDARY (aka LOT LINE)
An imaginary line which separates the real property owned,
leased or possessed by one person or entity from that owned, leased
or possessed by another person or entity.
PURE TONE
A sound which can be distinctly heard as a single pitch or
set of single pitches. For the purpose of this Part, a pure tone shall
exist if the 1/3 octave band sound pressure level and the band with
the tone exceeds the arithmetic average of the two continuous 1/3
octave bands by 15 dB for bands with center frequencies less than
160 Hz, by 8 dB for bands with center frequencies of 160 Hz to 400
Hz and by five dB for bands with center frequencies greater than 400
Hz.
SOUND
A temporal and spatial oscillation in pressure or other physical
quantity, in a medium with internal forces that causes compression
and rarefaction of that medium and which propagates at finite speed
to distant points.
2. Prohibited Acts.
A. General Prohibition. It shall be unlawful for any person to make
or cause to be made a noise disturbance within the limits of the Township,
except as otherwise permitted in this section. A noise disturbance
can be prosecuted without the use of a noise meter so long as the
noise disturbance:
(1)
Endangers or injures the safety or health of humans or animals.
(2)
Negligently, recklessly or willfully disturbs any neighborhood,
business, residence or reasonable person of normal sensitivities.
(3)
Jeopardizes the value of property.
B. Specific Prohibitions. The following are specifically prohibited,
except as otherwise permitted in this section:
(1)
No person shall make, continue or cause to be made or continued
any noise which creates a noise disturbance.
(2)
No person shall create such other noise as might pose a danger
to the public health, safety or welfare of the Township or otherwise
constitute a nuisance in fact.
(3)
No person shall operate, play or permit the operation or playing
of any radio, television, drum, musical instrument, music player,
sound amplifier or similar device which produces, reproduces or amplifies
sound in such manner as to cause a noise disturbance:
(a)
Which is plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet from such
source when the source is operated in, from or on a motor vehicle
or hand-carried on a public right-of-way or public space.
(b)
Such that the operator of the vehicle cannot hear or comprehend
emergency signals or devices.
(c)
Between the hours of 9:00 p.m. of one day and 8:00 a.m. of the
following day such that the noise disturbance is plainly audible through
partitions common to two parties within a building.
(4)
No person shall operate or permit the operation of any tool
or equipment used on construction operations, drilling or demolition,
or in the sweeping of parking lots, in areas adjacent to residential
uses between the hours of 10:00 p.m. of one day and 7:00 a.m. of the
following day such that the sound therefrom causes a noise disturbance.
(5)
No person shall operate or permit the operation of any powered
saw, drill, sander, grinder, lawn or garden tool or similar device
between the hours of 10:00 p.m. of one day and 7:00 a.m. of the following
day in areas adjacent to a residential use.
(6)
No person shall load, open, close or otherwise handle boxes,
crates, containers, building materials, garbage cans or other objects
between the hours of 10:00 p.m. of one day and 7:00 a.m. of the following
day in such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance in areas adjacent
to a residential use. This subparagraph shall not apply to municipal
or utility services in or about the public right-of-way.
(7)
No person shall own, possess, harbor or control any animal or
bird which howls, barks, meows, squawks or makes other sounds continuously
and/or incessantly for a period of 10 minutes or makes such noise
intermittently for 30 minutes or more to the disturbance of any person
at any time of the day or night, regardless of whether the animal
or bird is situated in or upon private property; provided, however,
that at the time the animal or bird is making such noise, no person
is trespassing or threatening to trespass upon private property in
or upon which the animal or bird is situated or for any other cause
which teased or provoked the animal or bird.
(8)
No person shall offer for sale or sell by shouting or outcry
or by any other amplified or unamplified sound, except between the
hours of 7:00 a.m. of one day and 7:00 p.m. of the same day. No person
shall remove or render inoperative, other than for purposes of maintenance,
repair, replacement or other work, any muffler or sound-dispersing
device or element of design or noise label of any product; intentionally
move or render inaccurate or inoperative any sound-monitoring instrument
or other device positioned by or for the Township or other governmental
entity, provided that such device or the immediate area is clearly
labeled or posted to warn of the potential illegality; or use a product
which has had a muffler or sound dispersing device or element of design
or noise label removed or rendered inoperative with knowledge or reason
to know that such action has occurred.
(9)
No person shall repair, rebuild, test or otherwise work on any
motorcycle or other motor vehicle, motorized off-road vehicle, motorboat
or aircraft in such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance across
a property boundary of the receiving land use in districts which allow
residential uses.
(10)
No person shall operate or permit the operation of a powered model vehicle between the hours of 10:00 p.m. of one day and 7:00 a.m. of the following day, and such operation from a single location shall not be for more than one consecutive time block without a corresponding one consecutive time block interval when the noise source is not detectable. Maximum sound pressure levels during the permitted period of operation shall not create a noise disturbance under the standards of Subsection
4 of this section and shall be measured at the property boundary of the source or at a distance of 100 feet from the source if it is operated in a public place.
(11)
No person shall operate or permit the operation of motorized
off road vehicles between the hours of hours of 10:00 p.m. of one
day and 7:00 a.m. of the following day so as to cause a noise disturbance
in areas adjacent to a residential use. Such operation from a single
location shall not be for more than one consecutive time block without
a corresponding one consecutive time block interval when the noise
source is not detectable.
3. Exemptions. The following noises are exempted from the provisions
above:
A. Blasting, only if performed in accordance with a permit issued by
an appropriate governmental agency. Such blasting may occur only between
7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, unless specifically
authorized otherwise by the permit.
B. Band concerts, carnivals or other performances or similar activities
publicly or privately sponsored and presented in any public or private
space outdoors, provided that such activities do not occur between
10:00 p.m. of one day and 9:00 a.m. of the following day, and provided
the activity does not create a noise disturbance.
C. Noises caused by the performance of emergency work or by the ordinary
and accepted use of emergency apparatus and equipment.
D. Noises resulting from the provision, repair and maintenance of municipal/governmental
facilities, services or public utilities.
E. Noises created by organized school-related programs, activities,
athletic and entertainment events or other public programs, activities
or events, other than motor vehicle racing events.
F. Noises made by warning devices operating continuously for three minutes
or less, except that, in the event of an actual emergency, the time
limitation shall not apply.
G. Noises made by bells, chimes, or carillons used for religious purposes
or in conjunction with national celebrations or public holidays.
H. Farm related activities, but not to include rural or home occupations.
I. Shooting activity between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. at
outdoor or partially enclosed shooting ranges of organizations which
are affiliated with or recognized by the Commonwealth or a national
sport shooting organization.
4. Measurable Noise Standards. Any one or combination of the following
shall constitute a noise disturbance:
A. A noise which exceeds the ambient noise level by 10 dB, at the point
of the complaint origination within the receiving lot, except as otherwise
regulated by this Part.
B. Any stationary source of sound which emits a pure tone, cyclically
varying sound or repetitive impulsive sound if the sound exceeds the
ambient noise level by 5 dB.
[Ord. 108-2004, 8/11/2004, § 100.4; as amended
by Ord. 122-2006, 12/15/2006]
Any person, firm or corporation who shall violate any provision
of the ordinance, upon conviction thereof in an action brought before
a magisterial district judge in the manner provided for the enforcement
of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure,
shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100 nor more than
$1,000 plus costs and, in default of payment of said fine and costs,
to a term of imprisonment not to exceed 90 days. Each day that a violation
of this Part continues or each section of this Part which shall be
found to have been violated shall constitute a separate offense. The
imposition of a fine as provided herein shall not serve to prevent
the abatement of any nuisance or to prevent the revocation of the
license held by any person, firm, association, partnership, corporation
or entity who or which shall violate the provisions of this Part or
any other law or ordinance while engaged in activities licensed under
the provisions of this Part.
[Adopted by Ord. No. 194-2018, 6/13/2018]
For the purpose of this Part, the following words, terms and
phrases shall have the meanings indicated herein:
ALARM
A communication indicating or warning that a crime, fire
or other emergency situation warranting immediate action by an emergency
services provider has occurred or is occurring.
ALARM SYSTEM
Any electrically operated instrument composed of sensors
and related hardware that automatically signals by wire, telephone,
radio signal, or other means to a person who, in turn, notifies the
Chester County 9-1-1 Center or other emergency services coordination
agency of the alarm. Alarm systems also include equipment to activate
a bell or sounding device to be heard outside a building which is
intended to alert the police or others to the existence of a crime,
fire, or other emergency situation warranting action by emergency
services, upon receipt of a stimulus from a sensor that has detected
a physical force or condition characteristic of a fire, intrusion,
or other emergency.
EMERGENCY SERVICES
The services provided by the Honey Brook Fire Company and/or
any emergency agency or provider operating within the Township of
Honey Brook or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
FALSE ALARM
Any activation of an alarm system by inadvertence, negligence
or intentional or unintentional acts or means, to which emergency
services of the Honey Brook Fire Company and/or other emergency services
agency or provider respond and where it is determined that the alarm
was not the result of a crime in progress, fire, medical or other
emergency necessitating a response by emergency services, excepting
those alarms which are caused solely by weather extremes or inadvertent
utility interruptions.
It shall be unlawful for the property owner, lessee, or any
person occupying, in control of, or otherwise on or in any premises
within Honey Brook Township, to make or cause to be made, a false
alarm, directly or indirectly to any emergency services agency or
provider responding to alarms within the Township.