For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
AMBIENT NOISE or BACKGROUND. Noise of a measurable intensity which exists at a point as a result of a combination of many distant sources individually indistinguishable.
BOARD OF ALDERMEN. The Board of Aldermen of the City of Waterbury.
CONSTRUCTION. Any site preparation, assembly, erection, substantial repair, alteration or similar action, but excluding demolition for or of public or private rights-of-way, structures, utilities or similar property.
CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT. Any equipment or device operated by fuel or electric power used in construction or demolition work.
DAY-TIME HOURS. The hours between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and the hours between 9:00 a.m. through 10:00 p.m. on Sundays.
DECIBEL. A logarithmic unit of measure used in measuring magnitudes of sound. The symbol is DB.
DEMOLITION. Any dismantling, intentional destruction or removal of structures, utilities, public or private right-of-way surface or similar property.
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH. The Director of Health of the City of Waterbury.
DOMESTIC POWER EQUIPMENT. Power saws, drills, grinders, lawn and garden tools and other domestic power equipment intended for use in residential areas by a homeowner.
EMERGENCY. Any occurrence or set of circumstances involving actual or imminent physical trauma or property damage which demands immediate action.
EMERGENCY VEHICLE. Any motor vehicle authorized by the city to have sound warning devices such as sirens and bells which can lawfully be used when responding to an emergency.
EMERGENCY WORK. Work made necessary to restore property to a safe condition following an emergency, or work required to protect persons or property from exposure to imminent danger.
IMPULSE NOISE. Sound of short duration (generally less than one second) with an abrupt onset and rapid decay.
MOTOR VEHICLE. Defined as per Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-1(53).
MUFFLER. A device for abating sounds such as escaping gases.
NIGHT-TIME HOURS. The hours between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 10:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. Saturday evening through Sunday morning.
NOISE. Any sound, the intensity of which exceeds the standards set forth in § 97.04.
NOISE LEVEL. The sound pressure level as measured with a sound level meter using the A-weighting network. The level so read is designated DB(a) or dBA.
PERSON. Any individual, firm, partnership, association, syndicate, company, trust, corporation, municipality, agency or political or administrative subdivision of the state, or other legal entity of any kind.
PREMISES. Any building, structure, land or portion thereof, including all appurtenances, and shall include yards, lots, courts, inner yards and real properties without buildings or improvements, owned or controlled by a person. The emitter's premises includes contiguous publicly dedicated street and highway rights-of-way, all road rights-of-way and waters of the state.
PROPERTY LINE. Real or imaginary line along the ground surface and its vertical extension which:
(1) Separates real property owned or controlled by another person; and/or
(2) Separates real property from the public right-of-way.
PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY. Any street, avenue, boulevard, highway, sidewalk, alley, park, waterway, railroad or similar place which is owned or controlled by a governmental entity.
RECREATIONAL VEHICLE. Any nonregistered internal combustion engine-powered vehicle which is being used for recreational purposes.
RESIDENTIAL ZONE. Residential, recreational or educational uses.
SOUND. A transmission of energy through solid, liquid or gaseous media in the form of vibrations which constitute alterations in pressure or position of the particles in the medium and which in the air evoke physiological sensations, including, but not limited to, an auditory response when impinging on the ear.
SOUND LEVEL. An instrument used to take sound level measurements and which should conform, at a minimum, to the operational specifications of the American National Standards Institute for Sound Level Meters § 1.4-1971 (Type 52A).
SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (SPL). Twenty times the logarithm to the base ten of the ratio of the pressure of a sound to the reference pressure of 20 micronewtons per square meter and is expressed in decibels (dB).
VIBRATION. An oscillatory motion of sound bodies of deterministic or random nature described by displacement, velocity or acceleration with respect to a given reference point.
(1967 Code, § 12-2) (Ord. passed 7-7-1986; Ord. passed 4-20-1987)