All definitions and terminology used in this chapter not defined below shall be in conformance with applicable publications of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or its successor body.
As used in this chapter:
(a) "A-weighted sound level" means the sound pressure level in decibels as measured on a sound level meter using the A-weighting network. The level so read is designated as dBA(A) or DBA.
(b) "Noise level" means the A-weighted sound level produced by a motor vehicle.
(c) "Sound level meter" means an instrument, including a microphone, amplifier, RMS detector, integrator or time averager, output meter, and weighting networks used to measure sound pressure levels. The instrument shall comply with the standards for Type 1 or Type 2 sound level meters as specified in American Standards Institute Standard ANSI S1.4-1971 or its successor.
(d) "Sound pressure level" means twenty times the logarithm to the base ten of the ratio of the RMS sound pressure to the reference pressure of ten micropascals. The sound pressure level is expressed in decibels.
(e) "Decibel" means a unit for measuring the volume of a sound, equal to twenty times the logarithm to the base ten of the ratio of the pressure of the sound measured to the reference pressure, which is twenty micropascals (twenty micronewtons per square inch).
(f) "dB(A)" means a weighted scale for measuring decibels as defined in the American National Standards Institute Bulletin.
(g) "Gross vehicle weight rating" (GVWR) means the value specified by the manufacturer as the recommended maximum loaded weight of a single motor vehicle. In cases where trailers and tractors are separable, the gross combination- weight rating (GCWR), which is the value specified by the manufacturer as the maximum loaded weight of the combination vehicle, shall be used.
(h) "Modified exhaust system" means an exhaust system in which the original noise abatement devises have been physically altered causing them to be less effective in reducing noise or the original noise abatement devices have either been removed or replaced by noise abatement devices which are not as effective in reducing noise as the original devices, or devices have been added to the original noise abatement devices such that noise levels are increased.
(i) "Commercial area" means any office building, local retail, and business districts as set forth in the City Zoning Code.
(j) "Construction" means any site preparation, assembly, erection, substantial repair, alteration, or similar action, but excluding demolition, for or on public or private right-of-way, structures, utilities or similar property.
(k) "Demolition" means any dismantling or intentional destruction or removal of structures, utilities, public or private right-of-way surfaces, or similar property.
(l) "Emergency" means any occurrence or set of circumstances involving actual or imminent physical trauma or property damage or loss which demands immediate action.
(m) "Emergency work" means any work performed for the purpose of preventing or alleviating the physical trauma or property damage threatened or caused by an emergency.
(n) "Light motor vehicle" means any automobile, van, motorcycle, motor driven cycle, motor scooter, dune buggy, snowmobile, all terrain vehicles, go-carts, mini-bikes or trucks with gross vehicular weight of less than 8,000 pounds.
(o) "Motor vehicle" means every vehicle defined as a motor vehicle in the Ohio Revised Code.
(p) "Motorcycle" means every vehicle defined as a motorcycle in the Ohio Revised Code.
(q) "Motorized bicycle" means every vehicle defined as a motorized bicycle in the Ohio Revised Code.
(r) "Noise" means any sound which annoys or disturbs humans or which causes or tends to cause an adverse psychological or physiological effect on humans.
(s) "Noise disturbance" means any sound which endangers or injures the safety or health of humans or animals; annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivities; or endangers or injures personal or real property.
(t) "Person" means any individual, association, partnership or corporation and includes any officer, employee, department, agency or instrumentality of a state or any political sudivision of a state.
(u) "Place of public entertainment" means any commercial facility open to the general public for purposes of entertainment.
(v) "Powered model vehicle" means any self-propelled airborne, waterborne, or landborne plane, vessel or vehicle which is not designed to carry persons, including but not limited to, any model airplane, boat, car or rocket.
(w) "Public right of way" means any street, avenue, boulevard, highway, sidewalk or alley.
(x) "Real property boundary" means an imaginary line along the ground surface and its vertical extension, which separates the real property owned by one person from that owned by another person.
(y) "Residential area" means single-family, two-family and multi-family zoning district classifications.
(z) "Sound" means an oscillation in pressure, particle displacement, particle velocity, or other physical parameter, in a medium with internal forces that cause compression and rarefaction of that medium. The description of sound may include any characteristic of such sound, including duration, intensity and frequency.
(Ord. 17-87. Passed 6-2-87.)