(a) Building on decades of scientific research, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have determined that persistent exposure to elevated levels of community noise is responsible for public health problems including, but not limited to: compromised speech, persistent annoyance, sleep disturbance, physiological and psychological stress, heart disease, high blood pressure, colitis, ulcers, depression, and feelings of helplessness.
(b) The General Plan for San Francisco identifies noise as a serious environmental pollutant that must be managed and mitigated through the planning and development process. But given our dense urban environment. San Francisco has a significant challenge in protecting public health from the adverse effects of community noise arising from diverse sources such as transportation, construction, mechanical equipment, entertainment, and human and animal behavior.
(c) In order to protect public health, it is hereby declared to be the policy of San Francisco to prohibit unwanted, excessive, and avoidable noise. It shall be the policy of San Francisco to maintain noise levels in areas with existing healthful and acceptable levels of noise and to reduce noise levels, through all practicable means, in those areas of San Francisco where noise levels are above acceptable levels as defined by the World Health Organization's Guidelines on Community Noise.
(Added by Ord. 274-72, App. 9/20/72; amended by Ord. 278-08, File No. 081119, App. 11/25/2008; Ord. 75-14
, File No. 140226, App. 5/28/2014, Eff. 6/27/2014)