[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Ogden 9-12-1984 by L.L. No. 4-1984 (Ch. 128 of the 1995 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
The Town of Ogden 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 Town and visitors thereto and to human,
plant and animal life, property and business, to foster the convenience
and comfort of its inhabitants and facilitate the enjoyment of the
natural attraction of the Town.
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:
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).
Any or all activity, except tunneling, necessary or incidental
to the erection, demolition, assembling, altering or installing of
equipment or 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.
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
0.0002 microbar.
A public calamity or an exposure of any person or property
to imminent danger.
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.
Any sound which is disturbing, offensive, annoying or causes
alarm, including incessant or repeated sounds that have the effect
of disturbing a reasonable person of normal sensitivity, or any sound
in excess of 96 decibels, as measured in accordance with the provisions
of this chapter.
[Amended 9-23-2009 by L.L. No. 5-2009]
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.
Any erratic, intermittent, statistically random oscillation
or unwanted sound.
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.
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, at any location within the Town of Ogden, any excessive
noise in violation of the provisions of this chapter.
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 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 Town
or on a boat or on the waters within the jurisdiction of the Town
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
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. nor 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:
[Amended 9-23-2009 by L.L. No. 5-2009]
A.
No person shall operate or cause to be operated any motor vehicle
in such a manner that the sound level emitted therefrom exceeds 96
dB(A)s either:
B.
For the purposes of measuring the decibel emissions of all motor
vehicles operated on private property, such measurements shall be
taken in accordance with the standards and procedures established
by SAE J1287 (July 1998) Stationary Sound Test Procedures.
C.
Any person who owns, operates or allows to be operated upon their
property within the Town of Ogden any motor vehicle which may be subject
to the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed to have given their
consent to the decibel measurement of the sound of such motor vehicle,
at the direction and request of any police officer who has reasonable
grounds to believe that such motor vehicle may have been operated
within the Town of Ogden in violation of the provisions of this chapter.
Any subsequent refusal to allow such decibel testing shall be presumptive
evidence that the decibel measurements of such motor vehicle exceeds
the statutory limits of this chapter and shall subject such person
to prosecution hereunder.
D.
This section 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.
E.
The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to agricultural operations
as the same are defined and regulated by the Agricultural and Markets
Law of the State of New York.
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 with 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.
C.
In areas zoned for multiple dwellings or apartments, continuous sound
in air shall not exceed 50 dB(A)s outside any living area window measured
not more than three feet from the window opening.
D.
The provisions of this section shall not apply if the sound from
the air conditioner or air-handling device produces an increase of
less than a five dB(A)s in the sound level that exists in the absence
of such 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 Town 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 Town 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.
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 12-13-1995 by L.L. No. 9-1995]
