[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of the Township of Allegheny 6-9-1997 by Ord. No. 13-1997. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
The following word meanings shall apply in this
chapter:
The American National Standards Institute.
A device used for adjusting a sound level meter to a known
standard.
All those hours occurring between 7:00:00 a.m. and 5:59:59
p.m. of the prevailing local time.
All those hours occurring between 6:00:00 p.m. and 10:59:59
p.m. of the prevailing local time.
Sound produced by any component of any equipment used in
any industrial process, be said process either stationary or movable.
All those hours occurring between 11:00:00 p.m. and 6:59:59
a.m. of the prevailing local time.
Any sound which annoys or disturbs humans or is unwanted
or which causes or tends to cause an adverse psychological effect
on human beings.
[Added 10-8-2007 by Ord. No. 06-2007]
Any sound which endangers or injures the health of humans
or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivities.
[Added 10-8-2007 by Ord. No. 06-2007]
An accessory device which, when used with a sound level meter,
allows for the measurement of individual frequency bands.
Any person, company, corporation or other entity owning or
engaged in or controlling the operation of industrial equipment.
Any natural person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company or organization of any kind.
Any area within the Township so defined by the latest approved
Township Zoning Map.
An instrument for measuring sound pressure which instrument
shall meet or exceed the requirements of the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) for a sound level meter.
Twenty times the logarithm to the base 10 of the ratio of
the root mean square (RMS) sound pressure to the reference pressure
of 20 micropascals (20 x 10-6 N/m 2). Sound pressure level is denoted
Lp or SPL and is expressed in decibels.
The Township of Allegheny, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
A systematic means by which, when measuring sound, a sound
level meter either includes or discriminates against certain frequencies.
The weighting are denoted "A," "B," and "C." For the purpose of this
chapter, the A weighting (which approximates the human ear response)
expressed as dbA, only, shall be used.
A porous or open-celled plastic foam cover used to attenuate
wind noise entering a microphone.
[Amended 10-8-2007 by Ord. No. 06-2007]
This chapter applies to all industrial equipment
operational sound whether it be classified as impact sound, impulsive
sound, intermittent continuous sound, or continuous sound, and it
includes sounds which are directly transmitted from the source to
the receiver or reflected, by one or more surfaces, from the source
to the receiver. Sound classifications shall be those terms accepted
and in general use by technicians qualified in the science of acoustics.
A.Â
Daytime hours. An operator of industrial equipment,
which is under his control, shall not permit industrial equipment
operational sound from said equipment, at any frequency, to exceed
55 dbA as measured with a sound level meter positioned within a Residential
(R1) District or immediately inside and at the district line, at any
geographical point along said line of a Residential (R1) District
during the daytime hours.
B.Â
Evening hours. An operator of industrial equipment,
which is under his control, shall not permit industrial equipment
operational sound, at any frequency, to exceed 45 dbA as measured
with a sound level meter positioned within a Residential (R1) District
or immediately inside and at the district line, at any geographical
point along said line of a Residential (R1) District during the evening
hours.
C.Â
Nighttime hours. An operator of industrial equipment,
which is under his control, shall not permit industrial equipment
operational sound, at any frequency, to exceed 40 dbA as measured
with a sound level meter positioned within a Residential (R1) District
or immediately inside and at the district line, at any geographic
point along said line of a Residential (R1) District during the nighttime
hours.
A.Â
An ANSI approved sound level meter (SLM), operated
by a qualified acoustics technician, shall be used in all instances.
The technician, within a maximum of 10 working days after taking measurements,
shall report to the Board of Supervisors the result of the survey.
The SLM shall be of a type in current general use and may include
a 1/5, 1/3 or 1/1 octave band analyzer, provided that A-weighted measurements
are always recorded and shall be the single determining sound pressure
level. The SLM shall be calibrated both immediately before and immediately
after any measurement period with a calibrating instrument which is
ANSI-approved for the SLM being used. An approved windguard shall
be placed over the SLM's microphone during the recording of all measurements.
The battery-check result for both the calibrator and the SLM instruments
and any meter deviations noted in the before-and-after calibrations
shall be entered in all subsequent reports. A form shall be provided
by the Township for recording sound pressure level events. Copies
of all raw notes and scratch data shall accompany any subsequent technician's
report and any estimated values in a report made by a technician shall
be clearly noted as such.
B.Â
Instrument readings.
(1)Â
Continuous sound:
(a)Â
A minimum of 20 separate dbA readings shall
be recorded at any individual geographic SLM location.
(b)Â
A minimum of three minutes (180 seconds) shall
elapse between each separate SLM reading.
(c)Â
The average of each set of 20 readings shall
be calculated and reported as the dbA SPL for a specific geographical
SLM location.
(3)Â
Impact sound.
(a)Â
A minimum of 20 peak dbA SPL values, including
the time in seconds separating each peak impact event, as well as
the total time period of the entire impacts event measurement, shall
be recorded at each specific geographical SLM location. A minimum
measurement period of one hour per SLM location shall be required.
(b)Â
The average of each set of 20 readings shall
be calculated and reported as the impact dbA SPL for a specified time
period relative to a specific geographical SLM location.
(c)Â
If desired, and using ANSI-approved instrumentation,
charts recording sound decay-time periods may be included.
[Amended 1-10-2005 by Ord. No. 2-2005; 10-8-2007 by Ord. No.
06-2007]
The Township Board of Supervisors, at its discretion,
may issue a temporary operating permit to the operator of industrial
equipment which is in violation of this chapter. The fee for said
permit shall be $75, and its duration, in days, shall be specified
therein. The amount of said fee may be changed from time to time by
resolution of the Board of Supervisors. In no event shall a temporary
operating permit be issued to the operator of industrial equipment
which is in violation of this chapter for a period of time in excess
of seven days.
A formal, written complaint, signed and dated
by the complainant(s), shall be required to initiate action under
this chapter. Action shall consist of a technical sound level survey
as described herein; a report of the survey findings to the Board
of Supervisors; an outline of further action, or no further action
to be taken by the Board; and the final assessment of costs as determined
by the survey results.
Costs for any acoustical survey (SLM) measurements
shall be assessed as follows:
A.Â
All costs for any acoustical survey (SLM) measurements
which prove an industrial equipment sound source is in violation of
this chapter shall be assessed against the operator of the industrial
equipment. Said costs shall be in addition to any fines which may
be imposed by the Township.
B.Â
All costs for any acoustical survey (SLM) measurements
which prove an industrial equipment sound source is not in violation
of this chapter shall be assessed against the individual person(s)
or other entity complainant.
The following equipment and persons shall be
excepted from this chapter:
A.Â
Sound from equipment used in the normal course of
farming operations.
B.Â
Sound from Township equipment.
C.Â
Sound of a temporary nature resulting from residential,
commercial and industrial building construction.
D.Â
Sound from any process source that does not exceed
five normal daylight working days from Monday to Friday, inclusive.
[Amended 10-8-2007 by Ord. No. 06-2007]
A violation of this chapter shall occur should any time period and its related maximum permitted industrial equipment sound level in dbA SPL, as specified in § 164-2A, B and C and all of its subsections, be exceeded by any operator of any industrial equipment. The violation shall be contingent upon the result of a sound pressure level survey completed in accordance with the method(s) set forth in § 164-3B(1) through (4), including all the subsections thereof. Sound levels in excess of the dbA SPL, as specified in § 164-2A, B and C, when measured in accordance with the methods set forth in § 164-3B(1) through (4), including all the subsections thereof, shall be considered noise and a noise disturbance, as defined in § 164-1 herein, and in violation of this chapter.
A.Â
If any person, operator, company, corporation or other
entity is in violation of any of the conditions, restrictions or requirements
or any of the provisions of this chapter and/or neglects or refuses
to comply with the provisions of this chapter, he shall be guilty
of a violation and for each such violation, upon conviction thereof
before a District Justice, he shall be sentenced to pay a fine of
not more than $1,000 along with costs of prosecution, and imprisonment
to the extent allowed by law for the punishment of summary offenses,
provided that each day's violation shall constitute a separate violation.
B.Â
In addition, the Township shall have the right to
enforce this chapter or to remedy conditions occasioned by violations
of this chapter by actions instituted in equity or at law.
