The following words, phrases and terms as used in this chapter shall have the following meanings:
AMBIENT NOISE LEVEL. The composite of noise from all sources near and far and constitutes the normal or existing level of environmental noise at a given location. The ambient noise level is the level obtained when the noise level is averaged over a period of at least 15 minutes without inclusion of noise from isolated identifiable sources, at the location and time of day near that at which a comparison is to be made.
A-WEIGHTED SOUND LEVEL. The sound pressure in decibels as measured on a sound level
meter using the A-weighted network (scale) at slow meter response. The unit of measurement is referred to herein as db(A) or dBA.
AUDIO EQUIPMENT. A television, stereo, radio, tape player, compact disc player, mp3 player, iPod or other similar device.
COMPLAINANT. An individual who has provided information to the county indicating that a violation of this chapter is occurring or has occurred at a certain location. A complainant may be an owner, tenant, or lawful occupant, or the agent or licensee of an owner, tenant or lawful occupant.
CONSTRUCTION. Construction, erection, enlargement, alteration, conversion or movement of any building, structures or land together with any scientific surveys associated therewith.
COUNTY. The unincorporated area of the County of San Benito, or if referring to an entity, the County of San Benito.
DAY. Shall be defined as 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
DECIBEL (dB). A logarithmic and dimensionless measure used in describing the amplitude of sound.
DWELLING. Any day care center, hospital, rest home, retirement home, group home, single-family dwelling, duplex, triplex, multi-family dwelling, or mobile home or other use of the same general type.
EQUIVALENT A-WEIGHTED SOUND LEVEL (LEQ). The constant sound level that has the same energy as the actual time-varying A-weighted sound level over a specific period of time.
EMERGENCY WORK. The use of any machinery, equipment, vehicle, manpower or other activity in an effort to prevent or alleviate the physical trauma or property damage that is caused by an emergency. To maintain, provide or restore safe
conditions in the community or for citizenry, or work by private or public utilities when restoring utility service.
FREQUENCY. The number of times that a periodic function repeats the same sequence of values during a unit variation of the independent variables. The unit is the hertz and shall be specified.
HERTZ. A unit of measurement of frequency, numerically equal to cycles per second.
NIGHT. Shall be defined as 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. the following calendar day.
NOISE. Any sound or vibration that may disturb or annoy reasonable people of normal sensitivities, or which causes, or tends to cause, an adverse effect on the public health and welfare.
NOISE DISTURBANCE. Any sound which: (1) is considered a noise; (2) endangers or injures people; or (3) endangers or injures personal or real property.
OCCUPIED PROPERTY. Property upon which is located a residence, business or industrial or manufacturing use.
PERSON. A person, firm, association, copartnership, joint venture, corporation, or any entity, public or private in nature.
PLAINLY AUDIBLE SOUND. Any sound for which the information content is unambiguously communicated to the listener, such as, but not limited to, understandable speech, comprehension of whether a voice is raised or normal, repetitive bass sounds, or comprehension of musical rhythms, without the aid of any listening device.
PROPERTY PLANE. 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, but not including intra-building real property divisions.
PUBLIC-RIGHT-OF-WAY. Any street, avenue, boulevard, highway, sidewalk, alley, or similar place which is owned or controlled by a governmental entity.
PUBLIC PROPERTY. Property owned by a governmental agency or held open to the public, including, but not limited to, parks, streets, sidewalks, and alleys.
RMS SOUND PRESSURE (PRMS). The square root of the time averaged square of the sound pressure.
SCHOOL. Public or private institutions conducting regular academic instruction at preschool, kindergarten, elementary, secondary or collegiate levels.
SOUND. A temporal and spatial oscillation in pressure, or other physical quantity, in a medium resulting in compression and rarefaction of that medium, and which propagates at finite speed to distant locations.
SOUND-AMPLIFYING EQUIPMENT. Any device for the amplification of the human voice, music, or any other sound. This excludes standard automobile radios when used and heard only by the occupants of the vehicle in which the radio is installed, and warning devices on authorized emergency vehicles or horns or other warning devices on any vehicle used only for traffic safety purposes.
SOUND LEVEL. The conversion of sound pressure to a logarithmic measure called the Decibel.
SOUND LEVEL METER. An instrument meeting American National Standard Institute's Standards S1.4-1971 for Type 2 sound level meters or an instrument and the associated recording and analyzing equipment which will provide equivalent data.
SOUND PRESSURE. The instantaneous difference between the actual air pressure and the average or barometric pressure at a given location.
SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (LP). Twenty times the logarithm to the base ten of the ratio of the RMS sound pressure to the reference sound pressure, which shall be 20 micropascals.
VIBRATION PERCEPTION THRESHOLD. Tthe minimum ground or structure-borne vibrational motion necessary to cause a normal person to be aware of the vibration by direct means as, but not limited, to sensation by touch or visual observation of moving objects. The perception threshold will be presumed to be a motion velocity of 1/100 inches per second over the range of one to 100Hz.
(Ord. 872, § 2 (part), 2011)