A. Intent And Purpose: It is the intent and desire of the Town Council to control excessive noise occurring within the Town limits. The purpose of this Section is to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the Town of Snowflake.
B. General Provisions:
1. Unless otherwise defined herein, all terminology shall be in conformance with applicable publications of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or its successor body.
2. Instrumentation used in making sound level measurements shall be a sound level meter with an A-weighting scale and associated octave band filters. The instrument shall be manufactured in accordance with ANSI standards. Measurement shall be made using a flat network of the sound level meter.
C. Maximum Permissible Sound Levels:
1. No person shall operate or cause to be operated any source of sound at any location within the Town limits or allow the creation of any noise on property owned, leased, occupied or otherwise controlled by such person, which causes the noise level to exceed the applicable limits given for any affected land use category in Table I.
2. The noise standards for the categories of land use as presented in Table I and set forth in terms defined shall, unless otherwise specifically indicated, apply to each property or portion of property substantially used for a particular type of land use reasonably similar to the land use types shown in Table I. Where different land uses occur on a single property, the more restrictive noise limits shall apply.
3. Where doubt exists when making identification of a land use, the Town Engineer or his designee may make the interpretation.
4. Sound levels shall be measured at the boundary or at any point outside the boundary of the property containing the source of sound.
Table I
ZONE | Maximum Noise Level (dBA) | |
10 P.M. - 6 A.M. | 6 A.M. - 10 P.M. | |
Residential Zones | 45 | 60 |
Commercial Zones | 55 | 70 |
Industrial Zones | 65 | 80 |
Noise Level Adjustments: The maximum permissible daytime noise levels listed above are subject to the following adjustments for duration:
Noise has an "on time" of no more than: | And "off time"* between successive "on times" of at least: | |
0.5 minutes | 1/2 hour | |
5.0 minutes | 1 hour | Add 7 dBA to permitted level |
10.0 minutes | 2 hours | |
20.0 minutes | 4 hours | |
*"Off time" is when the level of the primary noise being measured does not exceed that of the background noise in any octave band. | ||
D. Exemptions: The following activities or sources are exempt from the noise standards set forth in Table I:
1. Activities covered by the following: emergency signaling devices, domestic power tools, air-conditioning and air- handling equipment for residential purposes, refuse collection vehicles.
2. The unamplified human voice.
3. Aircraft operations.
4. Construction or routine maintenance of public service utilities.
5. Houses of worship bells or chimes.
6. The emission of sound for the purpose of alerting persons to the existence of an emergency, or the emission of sound in the performance of emergency work. (Ord. 132, 6-10-1997)