[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township
of Bethlehem 4-2-2020 by Ord. No. 465.2020. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter shall be to promote the general
health, welfare, safety and convenience of the Township of Bethlehem
and the inhabitants thereof by proscribing certain practices and hazards
which are, or may be, nuisances or disturbances to the public peace
and to permit the appropriate authorities to take steps to control
the practices herein proscribed.
It shall be a violation of this chapter for any individual,
firm, corporation, association, society, partnership or any agent,
servant or employee thereof, to commit or allow the following enumerated
nuisances:
A.
To make or cause or suffer or permit to be made or caused, upon any
premises owned, occupied or controlled by him or her or it or upon
any public street, alley or thoroughfare in the Township of Bethlehem,
any unnecessary noises or sounds by means of the human voice or by
any other means or methods which are physically annoying to the comfort
of any person or which are so harsh or so prolonged or unnatural or
unusual in their use, time and place as to occasion physical discomfort
or which are injurious to the lives, health, peace, repose and comfort
of the inhabitants of said Township or any member thereof. By way
of example, but not by way of limitation, the following acts are hereby
declared to be examples of loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise
in violation of this section:
(1)
Radios; televisions; phonographs: the playing, use or operation of
any radio receiving set, television, musical instrument, phonograph
or other machine or device for the producing or reproducing of sound
in such a manner as to disturb the peace, quiet and comfort of neighboring
inhabitants or with louder volume than is necessary for convenient
hearing for persons who are in the room, vehicle or chamber in which
the machine or device is operated and who are voluntary listeners.
The operation of such a set, instrument, phonograph, machine or device
so that it is clearly audible at a distance of 100 feet from the building,
structure, or vehicle in which it is located shall be prima facie
evidence of a violation of this section.
(2)
Loudspeakers and public-address systems. Using or operating of any
loudspeaker, public-address system or other sound amplification device
between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. the following day.
(3)
Animals and birds. Owning, possessing or harboring any pet animal
or pet bird that frequently or for continued duration makes sounds
that create a noise disturbance across a residential real property
line. For the purpose of this section, a noise disturbance from a
barking dog shall be defined as that created by a dog barking continually
for 10 minutes or intermittently for 30 minutes, unless provoked.
(4)
Loading and unloading. Loading, unloading, opening, closing or other
handling of boxes, crates, containers, building materials, liquids,
garbage cans, refuse or similar objects or the pneumatic or pumped
loading or unloading of bulk materials in liquid, gaseous, powder
or pellet form or the compacting of refuse by persons engaged in the
business of scavenging or garbage collection, whether private or municipal,
between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. the following day when
the latter is a weekday and between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 9:00
a.m. the following day when the latter is a legal holiday or a weekend
day, except by permit, when the sound therefrom creates a noise disturbance
across a residential real property line.
(5)
Standing motor vehicles. Operating or permitting the operation of
any motor vehicle whose manufacturer's gross weight is in excess
of 10,000 pounds, or any auxiliary equipment attached to such a vehicle,
for a period of longer than five minutes in any hour while the vehicle
is stationary, for reasons other than traffic congestion or emergency
work, on a public right-of-way or public space within 350 feet of
a residential area between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. of
the following day.
(6)
Construction and demolition. Operating or permitting the operation
of any tools or equipment used in construction, drilling, earthmoving,
excavating or demolition work between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 7:00
a.m. the following day on weekdays or on weekends and legal holidays
between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m.
(7)
Between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. the warming up or idling of buses,
trucks or tractors and the unnecessary or unreasonable or repeated
idling, acceleration and deceleration or starting and stopping of
automobiles and motorcycles within 350 feet of a residential area.
(8)
Yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling or singing or the making of
loud and disturbing noises by the use of clappers, bells, horns, musical
instruments or similar devices at any time or place so as to unreasonably
annoy or disturb the quiet, comfort or rest of any person in any residence,
hospital, school, place of business, street or public place.
(9)
Operating any off-road recreational vehicle, lawnmower, snow blower,
weed trimmer or other similar noise-emitting equipment and vehicles
after 9:00 p.m. so as to unreasonably annoy or disturb the quiet,
comfort or rest of any person in any residence, hospital, school,
place of business, street or public place.
B.
The provisions of this chapter shall not be applicable to the following:
(2)
Emergency work;
(3)
Emission of sounds for the purpose of alerting persons to the existence
of an emergency;
(4)
Municipally undertaken, sponsored or approved activities, celebrations
and events, including but not limited to, public works projects, police
and fire operations and drills, and sports and recreation games and
activities.
(5)
Public service utility companies.
The provisions of this chapter may be enforced by the police
agencies of the Township of Bethlehem or upon the filing of a complaint
in the Municipal Court of the Township of Bethlehem by any inhabitant
of the Township of Bethlehem, either with or without prior notice
to the person committing a violation of this chapter.
