This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Village
of Endicott "Noise Control Law."
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
ADMINISTRATOR
The Chief of Police of the Village of Endicott, and his/her
designee, and the Code Enforcement Officer of the Village of Endicott
and his/her designee.
BURGLAR ALARM
Any device designed and intended to produce an audible sound
signal upon unauthorized entrance into a building, premises or motor
vehicle.
COMMERCIAL
Any business or commercial activity that involves the purchase
or utilization of goods or services.
CONSTRUCTION
Any activity necessary or incidental to the erection, reconstruction,
demolition, assembling, altering, installing or equipping of buildings,
highways, roads, premises, parks, utility lines or other property,
including but not limited to related activities such as line clearing,
grading, earthmoving, excavating, blasting, filling and landscaping.
CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL
Any material, regardless of its composition, designed and
customarily used in construction.
CONTAINER
Any receptacle, regardless of contents, which is manufactured
from wood, metal, plastic, paper or any other material, including
but not limited to any barrel, basket, box, crate, tub, can, bottle
or refuse container.
DEVICE
Any mechanism which is intended to or which actually produces
and/or amplifies sound when operated or handled.
EMERGENCY
A public calamity or an exposure of any person or property
to actual or imminent danger.
MOTOR VEHICLE
Any vehicle operated or driven upon the public highway which
is propelled by any power other than muscular power, except electrically
driven wheelchairs being operated or driven by a handicapped person,
vehicles which run only upon rails or tracks and snowmobiles.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, company, corporation, association,
firm, organization, governmental agency, administration or department,
or any other group of individuals, or any person or employee thereof.
REAL PROPERTY BOUNDARY
An imaginary line exterior to any structure, along the ground
surface, which separates the real property owned by one person from
that owned by another person, and the vertical extension of such line.
SOUND REPRODUCTION DEVICE
A device intended primarily for the production or reproduction
of sound, including, but not limited to any musical instrument, radio
receiver, tape recorder, phonograph, or sound amplification system.
UNNECESSARY NOISE
Any excessive or unusually loud sound which either annoys,
disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace
or safety of a reasonable person of normal sensibilities, or which
causes injury to animal life or damage to property or business. Standards
to be considered in determining whether unnecessary noise exists in
a given situation include but are not limited to the following:
B.
The intensity of the noise.
C.
Whether the nature of the noise is usual or unusual.
D.
Whether the origin of the noise is natural or unnatural.
E.
The volume and intensity of the background noise, if any.
F.
The proximity of the noise to sleeping facilities.
G.
The nature and the neighborhood within which the noise emanates.
H.
The time of the day or night the noise occurs.
I.
The duration of the noise.
J.
Whether the sound source is temporary.
K.
Whether the noise is continuous or intermittent.
L.
Whether alternate methods are available to achieve the objectives
of the sound-producing activity.
No person shall make, continue, cause or permit to be made any
unnecessary noise. It shall not be a defense hereto that the person
does not reside at the property where the violation occurred.
The following acts are declared to be prima facie evidence of
a violation of this chapter and are prohibited. However, such enumerations
shall not be deemed to be exclusive.
A. Vocal noise. No person shall create unnecessary noise by shouting,
yelling, whistling, singing or other vocal exclamations between the
hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in, on, near or adjacent to any
public street, park or place in the Village of Endicott.
B. Burglar alarms. No person shall operate or cause to be operated an
audible burglar alarm unless such alarm is capable of and shall automatically
terminate operation within 15 minutes after such alarm is first activated.
Notwithstanding this provision, any member of the Village of Endicott
Police Department shall have the authority to take such steps as may
be necessary to disconnect said alarm at any time when in operation.
C. Construction.
(1) Except as otherwise provided herein, no person shall conduct or permit
to be conducted construction, alone or in combination with other construction
conducted or permitted by such person, in a manner as to cause unnecessary
noise between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., Monday to Saturday, or at any
time on Sundays or holidays, unless otherwise exempted under this
chapter or the Village Code.
(2) The provisions of this section shall not apply to the following:
(a)
Emergency work, and safety and protective devices.
(b)
Domestic power equipment and tools subject to Subsection
K herein.
D. Containers and construction material. No person shall handle or transport
or cause to be handled or transported in any public place any container
or construction material in such a way as to create unnecessary noise.
E. Commercial purposes. No person shall operate or permit to be operated
a place of public entertainment, including but not limited to a restaurant,
cannabis on-site consumption establishment, bar, cafe, discotheque,
or dance hall, in such a manner as to create unnecessary noise distinctly
audible from a distance of 50 feet outside the building, premises
or structure where produced, or sufficiently audible upon any public
street or place to attract and congregate a crowd thereon.
[Amended 12-5-2022 by L.L. No. 15-2022]
F. Defect in vehicle or load. No person shall operate or permit the
operation of any motor vehicle in such a manner or so out of repair
or so loaded as to create unnecessary noise such as grating, grinding,
or rattling.
G. Emergency warning devices. No person shall operate or cause to be
operated any emergency warning device, except:
(1) To give notice as a warning of any emergency;
(2) On an authorized emergency vehicle when such vehicle is engaged in
emergency operations, provided that such device is not operated for
a period of time longer than is necessary to respond to such emergency;
(3) When such device is under test.
H. Exhausts. Except as otherwise provided in the Village Code, no person
shall cause or permit the discharge into the open air of the exhaust
of any device, including but not limited to any steam engine, motor
vehicle engine, diesel engine, internal combustion engine or turbine
engine, so as to create unnecessary noise.
I. Institutions. No person shall cause or permit the creation of any
unnecessary noise through the use of any device on any street, sidewalk
or public place adjacent to any school, court or church while such
structure is in use, or adjacent to any hospital at any time, provided
that conspicuous signs are displayed so as to identify such school,
court, church or hospital.
J. Loudspeakers and public address systems.
(1) No person shall use, operate or permit the use or operation of any
loudspeaker, public address system or similar device for any noncommercial
purpose between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. of the following
day, such that the sound therefrom creates unnecessary noise across
a residential real property boundary.
(2) No person shall use, operate or permit the use or operation of any
loudspeaker, public address system, or similar device for any commercial
purpose:
(a)
Such that the sound therefrom creates unnecessary noise across
a real property boundary; or
(b)
Between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. of the following
day on a public highway.
K. Power equipment and tools. No person shall operate or permit to be
operated any domestic power tool, including but not limited to mechanically
powered saws, sanders, grinders, and lawn and garden tools used outdoors,
in residential areas between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
of the following day so as to create unnecessary noise across a residential
real property boundary.
L. Sound reproduction. No person shall operate, play or permit the operation
or playing of any radio, television, phonograph, drum, musical instrument,
sound amplifier or similar device which produces, reproduces or amplifies
sound:
(1) In such a manner as to create unnecessary noise across a real property
boundary, except for activities open to the public and for which a
permit has been issued.
(2) In such a manner as to create unnecessary noise audible from a distance
of fifty (50) feet from such device, when operated in or on a motor
vehicle on a public highway.
(3) In such a manner as to create unnecessary noise to any person other
than the operator of the device, when operated by any passenger on
a common carrier.
(4) In such a manner as to create unnecessary noise that enters an apartment
or dwelling unit that is separate and distinct from the apartment
or dwelling unit from which the unnecessary noise originated.
M. Squealing tires and horns. No person shall operate a motor vehicle
in such a manner as to cause unnecessary noise by spinning or squealing
the tires of such motor vehicle or by sounding the horn or other signaling
device of any motor vehicle, except as a warning signal pursuant to
the provisions of § 375 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law of
the State of New York.
N. Street sales. No person shall offer for sale or sell anything by
shouting or outcry causing unnecessary noise within any residential
or commercial area except by permit.
The administrators shall have the authority to grant special
exceptions to any of the provisions of this chapter upon such conditions
and for such reasonable time to best serve the public health, safety
and welfare of the Village of Endicott and its inhabitants.
Section
174-5C,
D,
G,
I and
K herein should not be applicable to activities of the departments of the Village of Endicott while acting in the course of their governmental responsibilities. The Board of Trustees of the Village of Endicott, or its designee, in its discretion, and upon reasonable terms and conditions, may permit other governmental entities acting in the course of governmental responsibility to be exempt from all or part of the requirements of §
174-5C,
D,
G,
I and
K.