(A) Findings. The City Council finds that:
(1) There are arterial and collector roadways in the City of El Mirage, as defined in the El Mirage General Plan and Transportation Plan and that have been designated under this code as truck routes that traverse through residential areas to intense industrial and commercial zones (hereafter, designated roadways);
(2) Traffic on these designated roadways late at night and early morning results in excessive noise, excessive vibration, and dust that degrades the environment of the city to a degree that:
(a) Is harmful and detrimental to the health, welfare, and safety of the city’s inhabitants;
(b) Interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life, property, and recreation and with the conduct of business and industry;
(c) Creates nuisances; and
(d) Creates incompatibility between residential uses and commercial uses.
(3) No one has the right to create excessive noise or excessive vibration; and
(4) Effective control and elimination of excessive noise and excessive vibration is essential to the furtherance of the health and welfare of the city’s inhabitants and to the conduct of the normal pursuits of life, recreation, commerce, and industrial activity.
(B) Intent and purpose. It is the intent and purpose of this section to prevent excessive noise and excessive vibration and to limit, control, and eliminate excessive noise and excessive vibration in general from whatever source, while minimizing any burdens on interstate or intrastate commerce in accordance with the United States Constitution and the Constitution of Arizona. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to restrict the movement of interstate commerce under the United States Constitution and in the event any court of competent jurisdiction finds that a provision of this section constitutes a restriction upon interstate commerce under the United States Constitution, the provisions shall be severed from the remainder of the section.
(C) Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
CITY. The City of El Mirage, Arizona.
DESIGNATED ROADWAY. A public street of the city that has been designated in accordance with this section for restrictions on the operations of trucks during certain specified hours.
EXCESSIVE NOISE. Any noise prohibited by division (D) of this section.
EXCESSIVE VIBRATIONS. The presence of a vibration or vibrations of such intensity, duration, frequency, or character which annoy, disturb, or cause or tend to cause adverse psychological or physiological effects on persons, or damage or tend to damage personal or real property.
PERSON. Any individual, natural person, syndicate, association, partnership, firm, corporation, institution, or other entity recognized by law as a subject of rights and duties.
TRUCK. Shall have the definition set forth in § 75.02.
VIBRATION. An oscillatory motion of solid bodies of deterministic or random nature described by displacement, velocity, or acceleration with respect to a given reference point.
(D) Excessive noise. It shall be unlawful for any person to willfully make or continue, or cause to be made or continued, any loud, unnecessary, and unusual noise by operating a truck on a roadway designated in accordance with this section for restricted truck hours operation, that disturbs the peace or quiet of any neighborhood or which causes discomfort or annoyance to any reasonable person of normal sensitiveness residing in the area.
(E) Excessive vibration. No person shall discharge or allow the escape of sounds or vibrations of a nature which are prohibited by or are in excess of that permitted by this section, or which result in or cause noise or excessive vibration on a roadway designated in accordance with this section for restricted truck hours operation.
(F) Strict liability. It shall be unlawful for any person to cause to operate or operate any truck on a roadway designated in accordance with this section for restricted truck hours operation during the hours of 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
(G) Other remedies. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as limiting the rights of any person to redress in a court of law for any injury to person or damage to property caused by noise or excessive vibration.
(H) Powers and duties of the Department of Public Works. The Department of Public Works shall have the following powers and duties.
(1) The Department shall be responsible for the administration and enforcement of this chapter in cooperation with the Police Department.
(2) The Department shall post notices every 300 feet along the roadway at least 11" x 17" in size providing not less than 15-days’ notice of the intent to designate any designated truck route for restrictive truck hours regardless of its designation as an arterial or collector roadway. Truck operation shall be prohibited from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
(a) No roadway designated as a state route or state highway shall be subject to the designation process.
(b) No roadway shall be designated if the designation would preclude truck access in all four directions.
(I) Standard.
(1) The standard that shall be used by the Director of Public Works in designating a roadway for restrictive truck hours that may be considered in determining whether a violation of the provisions of this section exists may include, but not limited to, the following:
(a) The level of noise in accordance with recognized engineering standards adopted by the Director of Public Works and whether such standards are exceeded;
(b) Whether the nature of the noise is usual or unusual;
(c) Whether the origin of the noise is natural or unnatural;
(d) The level and intensity of the background noise, if any;
(e) The proximity of the noise to residential sleeping facilities;
(f) The nature and zoning of the area within which the noise emanates and whether the area is predominantly residential in character;
(g) The density of the inhabitation of the area within which the noise emanates;
(h) The time of the day and night the noise occurs; and/or
(i) The duration of the noise; and whether the noise is recurrent, intermittent, or constant.
(2) If the Director of Public Works determines that four or more of these factors are impacted, he or she shall have the jurisdiction to designate the roadway in accordance with this section.
(J) Appeal. Any owner of real property fronting a roadway proposed to be designated for restrictive truck hours may file an appeal of the proposed designation within 15 days of the date of the posted notice. The appeal shall be filed with the Director of Public Works and shall be heard by the a hearing officer appointed by the City Council for such purposes. The hearing officer shall decide the matter within 20 days of the appeal. The standard of the review shall be whether Public Works Director had a reasonable basis to determine that four or more of the factors in division (I)(1) were impacted.
(Prior Code, § 13-6-12) Penalty, see § 75.99