(a) Definitions. For the purpose of this chapter the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings ascribed to them respectively.
(1) "Person" means any individual, association, partnership or corporation, and includes any officer, employee, department, agency or instrumentality thereof.
(2) "Property line" means the line which represents the legal boundary of property (including an apartment, condominium, room, or other dwelling unit) owned, leased, or otherwise occupied by a person. In cases involving sound from an activity on a public street or other public right-of-way, the property line shall be the nearest public right-of-way line.
(3) "Sound amplifying equipment" means any machine or device for the amplification of the human voice, music or any other sound and may include tape players, compact disc players, loud speakers or devices connected to the internet, or a cellular telephone system. It shall not be construed as including standard automobile radios when used and heard only by occupants of the vehicle in which installed or warning devices on authorized emergency vehicles or horns or other warning devices on other vehicles used only for traffic safety purposes.
(4) "Sound truck" means any vehicle having mounted thereon, or attached thereto, any sound amplifying equipment.
(5) "Stationary noise" means sound made by any machine or by any device for the amplification of the human voice or music, or any other sound originating from a fixed location.
(b) Operation of Sound Trucks Prohibited; Exceptions. No person shall operate, or cause to be operated, any sound truck within the Village of Crestline, Ohio with sound amplifying equipment in operation. However, in the event of a public disaster, act of God, or other emergency, any public utility company or public authority may disseminate information to the public by sound amplifying equipment.
(c) Unnecessary Noise Prohibited. No person shall make or continue, or cause to be made or continued any loud, unnecessary or unusual noise or any noise which either annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of persons of ordinary sensibilities.
(d) Examples of Unnecessary Noises. The following acts, which constitutes a non-exclusive list, are declared to be loud, disturbing and unnecessary noises in violation of this Chapter:
(1) Horns; Signaling Devices. The sounding of any horn or signaling device on any automobile, motorcycle, or other vehicle on any public street or public place; a creation by means of any such signaling unreasonably loud or harsh sound; and the sounding of any such device for an unnecessary and unreasonable length of time. An exception would be the use of any such signaling device as a warning of danger.
(2) Radios; Phonographs; Etc. The use or operation of any radio, phonograph, television, tape recorder, loudspeaker, musical instrument, or any other machine or device for the producing or reproducing of sound or amplifying sound in such a manner as to disturb the peace, quiet, and comfort of persons of ordinary sensibilities or at any time with louder volume than is necessary for convenient hearing for the person or persons who are in the room or chamber in which such machine or device is operated and who are voluntary listeners thereto. It is prima facia unlawful for a person to use or operate any such machine or device in such a manner as to be plainly audible at a distance of fifty (50) feet from the room, building, or structure in which it is located.
(3) Yelling; Shouting. Yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling, or singing so as to annoy or disturb the quiet, comfort, or repose of persons in any office, or in any dwelling, liquor establishment, or other type of residence, or of any persons in the vicinity.
(4) Drums. The use of any drum or other similar instrument or device for the purpose of attracting attention by creation of noise to any performance, show, or sale.
(5) Transportation of Metal Rails, Pillars and Columns. The transportation of rails, pillars, or columns of iron, steel, or other material over and along streets and public places upon carts, cars, trucks, or in any other manner or loaded so as to cause loud noises or as to disturb the peace, quiet, comfort, or repose of persons of ordinary sensibilities.
(6) Pile Drivers; Hammers; Etc. Used in Outside Construction. The operation between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. of any pile driver, pneumatic hammer, grinder, shredder, derrick, or other equipment or appliance used in outside construction, the use of which is attended by loud or unusual noise, in any zoning district in the Village which disturbs the peace, quiet, comfort, or repose of person of ordinary sensibilities living or working in residential or office-residential zoning districts in the Village of Crestline.
(e) Zones of Quiet. Whenever authorized signs are erected indicating a Zone of Quiet in the vicinity of any school, church, or hospital, no person shall cause, or permit to be caused, any unnecessary noise or sound the horn or other warning device of a motor vehicle, except in the case of an emergency, upon, the streets or alleys within any such Zone of Quiet that disturbs or unduly annoys the patients of any hospital or the pupils of any public or parochial school or which unreasonably interferes with the working of such institution.
(f) Motor Vehicle Noise Regulations.
(1) No person shall operate a motor vehicle or motorcycle with an internal combustion engine without same being at all times equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise, and no person shall use a muffler cut-out, bypass or similar device upon a motor vehicle or motorcycle on a highway. Every motorcycle muffler shall be equipped with baffle plates.
(2) No person shall operate a motor vehicle or motorcycle which causes excessive noise as a result of a defective or modified exhaust system. A modified exhaust system is an exhaust system in which the original noise abatement devices 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 their original devices or devices have been added to the original noise abatement devices such that noise levels are increased.
(3) No person shall unnecessarily race the motor of any vehicle and no person shall operate any motor vehicle, except in the case of an emergency, in such a manner that the vehicle is so rapidly accelerated or started from the stopped position that the exhaust system emits a sound, cracking or chattering noise unusual to its operation, or whereby the tires of such vehicle squeal or leave tire marks on the pavement, commonly known as "pealing."
(4) No person shall use or operate any motor vehicle or motorcycle so out of repair or loaded in such a manner as to create loud and unnecessary grating, grinding, rattling or noise.
(5) No person shall equip a motor vehicle or motorcycle with and use any device which creates loud or excessive noise; however, nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the blowing of horns when necessary to prevent an accident or the use of sirens or similar devices on authorized emergency vehicles.
(6) No operator or passenger of a motor vehicle or motorcycle shall operate or permit the operation of any radio or sound amplifying equipment which can be heard outside the vehicle from fifty feet or more when the vehicle is being operated upon a street, highway, alley, or parking lot.
(g) Emergencies. In the event of an emergency as deemed by the Mayor of the Village of Crestline or his designee, the provisions of the chapter may be waived by the Mayor or his designee
(h) Penalty. Whoever violates any section or provision contained in this chapter is guilty of a minor misdemeanor for the first offense, and a misdemeanor of the fourth degree for any subsequent offense within one year of the conviction of the first offense.
(Ord. 2978. Passed )