Chapter 8.18
PUBLIC NUISANCE NOISE DISTURBANCES
Sections:
8.18.020 Policy and procedure.
8.18.040 Nuisance noise disturbance.
8.18.070 Violation of chapter—Infraction—Exceptions.
8.18.080 Notice of infractions.
8.18.090 Civil monetary penalties and process.
8.18.010 Title.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the city of Ilwaco Nuisance Noise Code, and shall be codified as Chapter 8.18 of this code. (Ord. 720 (part), 2006)
8.18.020 Policy and procedure.
It is declared to be the policy of the city of Ilwaco to minimize exposure of citizens to excessive noise and to protect, promote, and preserve the public health, safety and welfare. It is the express purpose of the city of Ilwaco to control the level of noise in a manner that promotes the use, value, and enjoyment of property; sleep and repose; commerce and environmental quality. (Ord. 720 (part), 2006)
8.18.030 Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter the following words and phrases shall be defined as follows:
“Construction” means any activity necessary or incidental to the erection, demolition, assembling, altering, installing, repairing or equipping of buildings, roadways or utilities, including land clearing, grading, excavating and filling.
“Dwelling unit” means a building or portion thereof regularly used for residential occupancy.
“Dynamic braking device” means a device, commonly called “jake brakes,” used primarily on trucks and buses to convert the motor from an internal combustion engine to an air compressor for the purpose of vehicle braking without the use of wheel brakes.
“Motor vehicle” means any land vehicle that is or is designed to be self-propelled and/or that is designed or used for transporting persons or property.
“Noise disturbance” means any sound that is plainly audible within any dwelling unit or sleeping unit not the source of the sound, and that:
1. Injures or endangers the safety and health of humans;
2. Reasonably tends to annoy or disturb one or more persons; or
3. Endangers or injures personal or real property. Whether any particular sound constitutes a noise disturbance is to be determined in light of all relevant circumstances, including, but not limited to: the loudness of the sound as heard outside of the property or location where the sound originates; the time of day the sound is heard; and the duration of the sound;
4. Noise disturbance also means any sound that is plainly audible twenty-five (25) feet from any motor vehicle within the city limits of Ilwaco irrespective of whether it is plainly audible within any dwelling or sleeping unit.
“Noise sensitive unit” means any building or portion thereof, vehicle, boat or other structure used as a church, day care center, hospital, nursing care center, school, or place used for overnight accommodations of persons, including, but not limited to, individual homes, individual apartments, trailers and nursing homes.
“Off-road vehicle” means any vehicle, including motor vehicles, used off public rights-of-way for recreation purposes, including racing vehicles.
“Person” means individual, corporation, partnership, association, governmental body, state or other entity whatsoever.
“Property” means anything of value, whether tangible or intangible, real or personal.
“Sleeping unit” means something that is not a full dwelling unit. It can be just a sleeping area, such as a dorm room with access to group bathrooms and no cooking facilities. A sleeping unit can include either sanitation or cooking, but not both (i.e., the unit is a space to live and sleep, but shares a bathroom outside the unit and/or does not include a full kitchen). This group covers all types of congregate living arrangements and most transient lodging. Examples are: guestrooms in hotels and motels; bedrooms in dormitories, boarding houses, sorority houses, fraternity houses, halfway houses, group homes, monasteries, convents, assisted living facilities and nursing homes; and sleeping cells in jails.
“Chief of police” means the Long Beach City chief of police or his or her designee.
(Ord. 833 § 1, 2014; Ord. 720 (part), 2006)
8.18.040 Nuisance noise disturbance.
It is unlawful for any person to cause or any person in possession of property to allow to originate from the property any noise disturbance that:
A. Emanates from any device or property used for sound production or reproduction, including, but not limited to, radios, televisions, musical instruments, phonographs, loudspeakers;
B. Emanates from mechanized equipment such as, but not limited to, dynamic braking system, motor vehicle, motorcycle, off-road vehicle, or recreations vehicle, except as provided in Section 8.18.050; or
C. Emanates from an instrument used in propulsion of shot, shell, or bullets by the action of gunpowder exploded within it, or from fireworks, except as provided in Section 8.18.050. (Ord. 720 (part), 2006)
8.18.050 Exemptions.
The following sounds are exempt from the provisions of this chapter:
A. Sounds created by fire alarms;
B. Sounds created by emergency equipment and emergency work necessary for law enforcement or the health, safety and welfare of the community;
C. Sounds created by the discharge of firearms (1) in the course of recreational activities during the time of year and time of day prescribed by state law for said activity, and if law for such activity prescribes no time period then the time of day shall begin one-half hour after sunrise and end one-half hour after sunset; (2) on authorized shooting ranges; and (3) in the course of protecting life, limb or property. However, there shall be no exemption for any discharge of firearms that is in violation of any other provisions of law;
D. Sounds originating from forest land management activities or agriculture activities;
E. Sound created by equipment or motor vehicles used for road and drainage maintenance;
F. Sounds created by warning devices not operated continuously for more than thirty (30) minutes;
G. Sounds created by the operation of equipment or facilities of surface carriers engaged in commerce;
H. Sounds that originate from public works projects;
I. Other than public works, sounds created by construction between seven a.m. and six-thirty p.m. M-S and between nine a.m. and five p.m. on Sunday;
J. Sounds created by refuse removal equipment;
K. Sounds originating from officially approved parades and other public events;
L. Sounds originating from fireworks authorized pursuant to RCW 70.77;
M. Sounds originating from ordinary maintenance of real or personal property during daylight hours. Such activities include, but are not limited to: landscape maintenance, painting, firewood cutting and gardening;
N. Sounds originating from normal travel on roads. However, this exemption does not apply to the operation of any motor vehicle in excess of ten thousand (10,000) pound gross combined weight rating within two hundred (200) feet of any residence and with a dynamic breaking device engaged, unless such device does to increase the sound level emitted by the vehicle under power;
O. Sound originating from commercial or industrial activities provided such activities are conducted in conformance with Chapter 70.107 RCW and any regulations thereunder; except whereas in the event of frequent, repetitive or continuous sounds which emanate from any building and/or structure, which unreasonably disturbs or interferes with the peace and comfort of owners or possessors of real property, such as sounds from musical instruments, audio sound systems, band sessions or social gatherings. (Ord. 833 § 2, 2014; Ord. 720 (part), 2006)
8.18.060 Enforcement.
The authority and responsibility for enforcing this chapter are vested in the chief of police, who may take such enforcement measures as deemed appropriate. Such measures may include, but are not limited to, the issuance of verbal or written warnings, the issuance of notices of infraction, when allowed under this chapter. (Ord. 720 (part), 2006)
8.18.070 Violation of chapter—Infraction—Exceptions.
Violations of this chapter shall be classified as infractions, except as otherwise provided. Infractions are noncriminal offenses. (Ord. 720 (part), 2006)
8.18.080 Notice of infractions.
A notice of infraction represents a determination that an infraction has been committed. (Ord. 720 (part), 2006)
8.18.090 Civil monetary penalties and process.
Civil infraction penalties shall accrue as follows: each violation will be punished by a fine not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) per violation nor to exceed a fine of two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) per day that violations occur and for each day of violation thereafter until the violation has been corrected. All proceedings for the civil violation will be in accordance with Section 1.20.020. (Ord. 720 (part), 2006)
8.18.100 Severability.
If any section, paragraph, clause, or phrase of this chapter be declared invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this chapter. (Ord. 720 (part), 2006)
8.18.110 Effective date.
The ordinance codified in this chapter shall take effect immediately.
(Ord. 720 (part), 2006)