Section 24-201
§ 24-201 Short title. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as
the New York city noise control code.
Section 24-202
§ 24-202 Declaration of policy. It is hereby declared to be the public
policy of the city to reduce the ambient sound level in the city, so as
to preserve, protect and promote the public health, safety and welfare,
and the peace and quiet of the inhabitants of the city, prevent injury
to human, plant and animal life and property, foster the convenience and
comfort of its inhabitants, and facilitate the enjoyment of the natural
attractions of the city. It is the public policy of the city that every
person is entitled to ambient sound levels that are not detrimental to
life, health and enjoyment of his or her property. It is hereby declared
that the making, creation or maintenance of excessive and unreasonable
noises within the city affects and is a menace to public health,
comfort, convenience, safety, welfare and the prosperity of the people
of the city. For the purpose of controlling and reducing such noises, it
is hereby declared to be the policy of the city to set the unreasonable
and prohibited noise standards and decibel levels contained herein and
to consolidate certain of its noise control legislation into this code.
The necessity for legislation by enactment of the provisions of this
chapter is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination.
This code shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate the
purposes described in this section. Nothing herein shall be construed to
abridge the emergency powers of the board of health or the right of the
department of health and mental hygiene to engage in any of its
necessary or proper activities. It is the intent of the council that the
police department as well as other agencies of the city designated by
the commissioner of the department of environmental protection shall
have the authority to enforce the provisions of this code and police
officers and designated employees of the department of environmental
protection and of such other city agencies shall have the power to issue
summonses, appearance tickets and notices of violation for violations of
this code.
Section 24-203
§ 24-203 General definitions. When used in the New York city noise
control code the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) "A" level means the sound level as measured with a sound level
meter using the "A" weighting network. The unit of measurement is the
dB(A). This frequency weighting network for the measurement of sound
levels shall comply with standards established by the American National
Standards Institute specifications for sound level meters S1.4-1971, as
amended or S1.4-1983, as amended.
(2) Activity means any act or combination of acts which actually
results in the production of sound.
(3) Air compressor means a device which draws in air or gas,
compresses it, and delivers it at a higher pressure.
(4) Air horn means a device intended to produce a sound signal by
means of compressed air or gas or exhaust gas.
(5) Airport means an area of land or water that is used or intended to
be used for the landing and take off of aircraft, and includes its
buildings and facilities, if any.
(6) Ambient sound means the sound level at a given location that
exists as a result of the combined contribution in that location of all
sound sources, excluding the contribution of a source or sources under
investigation for violation of this code and excluding the contribution
of extraneous sound sources. For purposes of the enforcement of this
code, the ambient sound level of a given location may be determined
based upon measurements taken at a comparable site (which includes but
is not limited to comparable physical locations and time of day) in the
nearby area.
(7) Apparatus means any mechanism which prevents, controls, detects,
measures or records the production of sound.
(8) Audible status indicator means any sound reproduction device on a
motor vehicle that emits or causes to be emitted any continuous or near
continuous sound (exceeding 5 seconds if tonal in nature or any duration
if verbal in nature) for the purpose of warning that an audible burglar
alarm has been installed on such motor vehicle and is operational or for
creating the appearance that such an alarm has been installed on such
motor vehicle and is operational.
(9) Authorized emergency vehicle means an authorized emergency vehicle
as defined by section 101 of the vehicle and traffic law.
(10) Board means the environmental control board of the city of New
York.
(11) Building means a building as defined in section 27-232 of the
administrative code.
(12) Building aperture means any designed opening in a building to
which a person may reasonably have access including but not limited to
any door, gate, window, skylight or hatch.
(13) Burglar alarm means any sound signal device designed and intended
to produce a sound signal upon unauthorized entrance by a person into a
building or motor vehicle.
(14) "C" level means the sound level as measured with a sound level
meter using the "C" weighting network. The unit of measurement is the
dB(C). This frequency weighting network for the measurement of sound
levels shall comply with standards established by the American National
Standards Institute specifications for sound level meters S1.4-1971, as
amended or S1.4-1983, as amended.
(15) Certificate means an operating or temporary operating
certificate.
(16) Charter means the charter of the city of New York including all
of its amendments.
(17) Circulation device means any device which circulates a gas or
fluid, including but not limited to any air conditioner, pump, cooling
tower, fan or blower.
(18) Claxon means any manually, mechanically, or electrically powered
device, other than an emergency signal device, including but not limited
to a motor vehicle horn, which is intended to, and when operated
actually does, emit a sound signal.
(19) This code means the New York city noise control code.
(20) Commissioner means commissioner of environmental protection or
his or her authorized representative.
(21) Construction or construction work means any or all activity
necessary or incidental to the erection, demolition, assembling,
altering, installing or equipping of buildings, public or private
highways, roads, premises, parks, utility lines including such lines in
already-constructed tunnels, or other property, including land clearing,
grading, excavating and filling.
(22) Construction device means any device designed and intended for
use in construction including, but not limited to any air compressor,
pile driver, sledgehammer, bulldozer, pneumatic hammer, steam shovel,
derrick, crane, steam or electric hoist, construction vehicle or
pneumatic or electric tool.
(23) Construction material means any material, regardless of
composition, designed and customarily used in construction including but
not limited to any rails, pillars, columns, beams, bricks, flooring,
wall, ceiling or roofing material, gravel, sand, cement or asphalt.
(24) Container means any receptacle, regardless of contents,
manufactured from wood, metal, plastic, paper or any other material
including but not limited to any barrel, basket, box, crate, tub,
bottle, can or refuse container.
(25) Decibel means the practical unit of measurement for sound
pressure level; the number of decibels of a measured sound is equal to
20 times the logarithm to the base 10 of the ratio of the sound pressure
to the pressure of a reference sound (20 micropascals); abbreviated
"dB".
(26) Device means any mechanism which is intended to or which actually
produces sound when operated or handled.
(27) Department means the department of environmental protection.
(28) Dwelling means any building lawfully occupied in whole or in part
as the temporary or permanent residence of one or more natural persons.
(29) Dynamic insertion loss means the difference between two sound
pressure levels which are measured at the same point in space before and
after a muffler is inserted between the measurement point and the sound
source under operating conditions.
(30) Emergency means a public calamity or an exposure of any person or
property to imminent danger.
(31) Emergency signal device means any gong, siren whistle, or siren
or any air horn or any similar device the use of which on authorized
emergency vehicles is permitted by subdivision twenty-six of section
three hundred seventy-five of the vehicle and traffic law.
(32) Exhaust source means a system which removes and transports air or
gas from a device.
(33) Extraneous sound is sound that is intense, intermittent, not
representative of the relatively steady sound levels at a given location
and not attributable to a source or sources under investigation for
violation of this code. Such sound includes but is not limited to sirens
of passing emergency vehicles, unusually loud motor vehicle braking
(screeching) or exhaust noise, people shouting, animal vocalization,
passing aircraft, horn honking, car door slamming and passing trains.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provision, sounds that are individually
persistent or controlling of the sound level at a given location shall
not be considered to be extraneous sounds if they constitute more than
50 percent of the duration of an ambient or total sound level
measurement such as for example the sound of a passing aircraft at a
specific location if airplanes regularly pass over such location and the
proximity of such passing aircraft to the location, its sound level, and
the duration of such sound level, control the sound level at the given
location at the time the sound source under investigation is being
measured. For the purposes of the enforcement of this code, extraneous
sounds are excluded when measuring the ambient sound level at a given
location and when measuring the sound level of a source or sources under
investigation for violation of this code except where such sounds are
themselves under investigation for violation of this code.
(34) Impulsive sound is sound that is of short duration, where each
peak of sound lasts 2 seconds or less. The sound is characterized by
abrupt onset and rapid decay. As used in this code, the term impulsive
sound shall not include music.
(35) Internal combustion engine means a device for the production of
energy by means of the combustion under pressure of fossil fuel.
(36) Lawn care device means any device powered mechanically, by
electricity, by gasoline, by diesel fuel or by any other fuel, which is
intended to be used or is actually used for the mowing of grass, the
cutting or chipping of trees, tree roots or tree branches, or the
clearing of leaves or other vegetation from lawns, sidewalks, public
streets or public highways and shall include, but not be limited to,
such devices as lawn mowers and lawn mower attachments, lawn edgers,
leaf blowers, leaf vacuums, mulchers and chippers.
(37) Lmax means the maximum measured sound level at any instant in
time.
(38) Motor vehicle means any device which is propelled by an engine in
or upon which a person or material may be transported on the ground and
which is intended to be operated upon a public highway.
(39) Muffler means an apparatus generally consisting of but not
limited to a series of chambers or baffles for the purpose of
transmitting gases while reducing sound levels.
(40) Owner means and includes the owner of the freehold of the
premises or lesser estate therein, or mortgagee thereof, a lessee or
agent of any of the above persons, a lessee of a device or his or her
agent, a tenant, operator, or any other person who has regular control
of a device or an apparatus.
(41) Paving breaker means any powered construction device intended to
cut or trench pavement, subbase macadam, gravel, concrete or hard
ground.
(42) Person means any individual, partnership, company, corporation,
association, firm, organization, governmental agency, administration or
department, or any other group of individuals, or any officer or
employee thereof.
(43) Personal audio device means a portable sound reproduction device
as normally and customarily used for personal purposes including but not
limited to a personal radio, phonograph, television receiver, tape
recorder or compact disc player. For the purposes of this definition
such term shall include a sound reproduction device installed in or
operated from a motor vehicle whether or not portable.
(44) Plainly audible sound means any sound for which any of the
content of that sound, such as, but not limited to comprehensible
musical rhythms, is communicated to a person using his or her unaided
hearing faculties. For the purposes of the enforcement of this code, the
detection of any component of music, including but not limited to the
rhythmic bass by a person using his or her unaided hearing faculties is
sufficient to verify plainly audible sound. It is not necessary for such
person to determine the title, specific words or artist of such music.
In the case of motor vehicles the detection of the sound of a muffler or
of an exhaust by a person using his or her unaided hearing faculties is
sufficient to verify plainly audible sound. Plainly audible sound does
not require measurement with a sound level meter.
(45) Power tool means any device powered mechanically, by electricity,
by gasoline, by diesel fuel or by any other fuel, which is intended to
be used or is actually used for, but shall not be limited to, the
performance of such functions as cutting, nailing, stapling, sawing,
vacuuming or drilling.
(46) Public right-of-way means a public highway, road, street, avenue,
alley, driveway, path, sidewalk, roadway or any other public place or
public way.
(47) Railroad means a railroad, other than a rapid transit railroad or
street railroad, operated for public use in the conveyance of persons or
property for compensation, with all bridges, ferries, tunnels,
equipment, switches, spurs, tracks, stations and terminal facilities
used, operated or owned by or in connection therewith.
(48) Rapid transit railroad means a rapid transit railroad used for
local service in the transportation of passengers as a common carrier
for hire together with the appurtenances, facilities and equipment
thereof.
(49) Receiving property means real property, including but not limited
to buildings, grounds, offices and dwelling units, from which sound
levels from sound sources outside such property may be measured. For the
purposes of this definition, individual offices or dwelling units within
a building may constitute a receiving property.
(50) Refuse collection vehicle means a motor vehicle designed or used
to remove, collect, or transport refuse, solid waste or recyclables.
(51) Sound means an oscillation in pressure, stress, particle
displacement, particle velocity, etc., in a medium with internal forces
(e.g., elastic, viscous), or the superposition of such propagated
oscillation which evokes an auditory sensation.
(52) Sound level meter means any instrument including a microphone, an
amplifier, an output meter, and frequency weighting networks for the
measurement of noise and sound levels in a specified manner and which
complies with standards established by the American National Standards
Institute specifications for sound level meters S1.4-1971, as amended or
S1.4-1983, as amended.
(53) Sound pressure level (decibels) means an expression of the
acoustic pressure calculated as twenty times the logarithm to the base
ten of the ratio of the root mean square of the pressure of the sound to
the reference pressure, 20 micropascals.
(54) Sound reproduction device means a device intended primarily for
the production or reproduction of sound, including but not limited to
any musical instrument, radio receiver, television receiver, tape
recorder, phonograph or electronic sound amplifying system.
(55) Sound signal means any sound produced by a sound signal device
designed to transmit information.
(56) Sound signal device means a device designed to produce a sound
signal when operated, including but not limited to any claxon, air horn,
whistle, bell, gong, siren, but not an emergency signal device.
(57) Sound source means any activity or device that emits sound.
(58) This code means the New York city noise control code.
(59) Total sound level means that measured sound level that represents
the combined sound level of the source or sources under investigation
and the ambient sound level. Total sound level measurements shall
exclude extraneous sound sources.
(60) Tunnel means an underground passage which is intended for use as
a railway, aqueduct, road, sewer or major utility artery.
(61) Tunneling means any activity necessary or incidental to the
construction of any tunnel, including the sinking of shafts to tunnel or
to an intermediate level and the surface activities required to sink the
shafts and construct the tunnel.
(62) Unreasonable noise means any excessive or unusually loud sound
that disturbs the peace, comfort or repose of a reasonable person of
normal sensitivities, injures or endangers the health or safety of a
reasonable person of normal sensitivities, or which causes injury to
plant or animal life, or damage to property or business.
(63) Refuse collection facility means any structure, building or other
premises at which solid waste is received for the purpose of subsequent
transfer to another location regardless of whether such solid waste is
subject to any processing or reduction in volume at such structure,
building or premises.
To the extent possible under law, Friends of Devin Balkind for Public Advocate has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to New York City Administrative Code. This work is published from: United States.
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