(a) Noise level time periods. During the time period of 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., any commercial establishment or residence located in the town may emit sound not exceeding 70 decibels. During the time period of 10:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m., any commercial establishment or residence located in the town may emit sound not exceeding 55 decibels.
(b) Rules for measurement. For purposes of this section, sound shall be measured using the following rules:
(1) Devices used for measurement. Measurements of decibel levels shall be made with a sound level meter designated at least as “Type II” meeting ANSI S1.4-1971 requirements, (referring to “American National Standard Specification for Sound Level Meters, Acoustical Society of America, New York, NY”) (hereinafter referred to as “decibel meter”).
(2) Settings of decibel meter when sound measured. The sound measurement shall be made with the decibel meter using the A-weighted scale, set on “slow” response.
(3) Location of measurement. Measurements taken to determine compliance with this section shall be made at any property line of the offender.
(4) Duration of measurement to establish violation. In order to establish a violation of this section, the duration of measurement(s) which must be registered by the decibel meter must equal or exceed a level continuously exceeding the established limits for 15 continuous seconds, or for two or more periods within a 60-second period, each exceeding the established limits for five continuous seconds.
(5) Time of measurement. Except for sounds created or broadcast outside the commercial establishment or live music venue, and unless the door of a commercial establishment or live music venue is open for periods exceeding times needed for normal ingress and egress, such as when a door is propped open, measurements shall be taken with the door closed.
(c) Sounds not authorized by this section. This section does not excuse people who have left the premises of a commercial establishment or residence, temporarily or otherwise, from compliance with this chapter. PREMISES for purposes of this subsection (c) refers, when such activities are conducted indoors, to the indoor area of a commercial establishment or residence in which the sound is created or broadcast. PREMISES for purposes of this subsection (c) refers, when such activities are conducted outdoors, to the borders of the property upon which the sound is created or broadcast. A person, for example, who has left a commercial establishment or residence to smoke a cigarette on the public sidewalk outside is subject to the full enforcement of this chapter. Similarly, otherwise prohibited noise created by an employee of a commercial establishment such as that caused by depositing empty bottles or cans in recycling containers in the middle of the night, is not excused by this section, and such noise production shall subject the offending individual to enforcement in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
(d) Responsibility for violation. The owner of the commercial business establishment or residence shall be responsible for a violation of this section, or if none can be determined, the owner of the property shall be responsible. Before the owner of the property is cited, however, the town shall determine whether there is any current lease of record registered in the County Registry, and if so, the lessee or tenant shall stand in the place of the owner and shall be responsible. An entity such as a limited liability company or corporation may not evade responsibility for repeat violations by altering its structure, and if there is any identity or overlap between the ownership, membership or shareholders of a cited sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation or other entity, and the ownership, membership or shareholders of a subsequently cited sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation or other entity operating in the same location, or in the case of the outdoor emission of live, recorded or amplified music, in any location within the corporate limits, the entities shall be considered one and the same.
(e) Penalties for violation. The first violation of this provision shall subject the person or entity responsible for the violation to a written warning, the issuance of which shall be recorded and maintained by the Police Department. A second violation shall subject the person or entity responsible to a civil penalty in the amount of $100, a third violation to a civil penalty in the amount of $250, and each subsequent violation shall result in the assessment of a $500 civil penalty.
(f) Written notice of warning or violation, time for payment and action by town for nonpayment. A person or entity responsible for a violation under this section shall be issued a written warning or notice of the violation stating the amount of the civil penalty, as appropriate. Such written notice may be delivered to the person in charge of the commercial establishment or residence at the time of the violation, or, if none is present, to any employee of the commercial establishment at the time of the violation. Alternatively or in addition, in the case of an entity which has an agent for service of process registered with the Secretary of State, a written warning or notice of the violation may be mailed to such agent at the registered address by regular mail or certified mail, return receipt requested. Any civil penalty must be paid within 30 days after the receipt of the notice. If the person or entity responsible does not pay the penalty within 30 days, the town may recover such penalty and all subsequently accruing penalties in a civil action. In the event that it is necessary for the town to institute a civil action to collect one or more civil penalties, the person or entity responsible shall be responsible for all costs, including attorney’s fees, incurred by the town.
(g) Other laws. Just because a sound is at a decibel level allowed under this section does not exempt it from the obscenity laws of the town, the county or the state and any and all other applicable laws and regulations.
(Ord. 2014-1, passed 2-11-2014)