Penn Hills adopts new, more specific noise ordinance
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Penn Hills adopted an ordinance that regulates noise between certain times throughout the municipality.
Council voted unanimously on the new rules aimed at limiting excessive noise. Mayor Sara Kuhn and Councilman John Petrucci were absent from the Oct. 21 meeting.
The new ordinance replaces an old one that placed vague limitations on noise, said Manager Scott Andrejchak. Under the previous ordinance, police officers had the ability to cite someone under a “disorderly house.”
Andrejchak said that process is fairly subjective, so the new ordinance places limitations between certain times. An option administration researched was purchasing a device that measures decibels, but said it was too costly.
“So we’re really not changing the universe, per se,” Andrejchak said. “It’s still somewhat subjective in what noise is.” But, he said, the ordinance covers a range of behaviors that could result in excessive noise and limits those activities to a certain timeframe.
Chris Blackwell said the ordinance establishes a “quiet time” for Penn Hills.
“I think we’ve come to a place where this is going to be a useful tool for us,” Blackwell said.
Councilman Petrucci, who is also running for mayor, proposed the ordinance at council’s Aug. 19 meeting. He said the ordinance would cover both noise and fireworks.
The use of fireworks is not addressed in the ordinance. However, Andrejchak said they would be considered excessive noise, which is defined in the ordinance as “any sound or sounds which is unusually loud to be injurious or which unreasonably disturbs the quiet, comfort or repose of a reasonable person of normal sensitivities.”
As of October 2017, fireworks with 50 milligrams or less of explosives are legal to set off more than 150 feet away from any “occupied structure.”
According to the ordinance, “radios and other amplified music” that makes “sound to create excessive noise to disturb the peace” cannot be used between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. if it is audible within 50 feet of a property line or a vehicle.
The ordinance also applies to loudspeakers used for commercial advertising and construction activities. However, construction activity that involves loud tools like jackhammers and other equipment is limited from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Noise from trash collection is included in the ordinance, which limits the activity to happening only in residential zones from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on any day. Landscape maintenance activities, such as the use of trimmers and lawnmowers, is subject to the same limitations.
The rules don’t apply to emergency construction or excavation, work on public utilities, municipal work and any business located in the municipality’s light or general industrial districts that is not less than 500 feet from residential zoning districts.
Police officers will be given enforcement authority. According to the ordinance, officers will first issue a verbal warning. The second time, however, could face a fine of up to $1,000. Anyone can file an appeal, which will be heard by the Penn Hills Board of Appeals, as long as it is asked for within 10 days of the violation.