§ 20-20. Findings and purpose; definitions.

(a)

Bonita Springs finds that excessive, loud and raucous noise degrades the environment of the city to a degree that:

(1)

Is harmful to the health, welfare, and safety of its inhabitants and visitors;

(2)

Interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property;

(3)

Interferes with the well-being, tranquility, and privacy of the home; and

(4)

Can cause and aggravate health problems.

(b)

Both effective control and the elimination of excessive, loud and raucous noise are essential to the health, safety and welfare of the city's residents and visitors, and to the conduct of normal pursuits of life, including, but not limited to, recreation, work, communication, and rest.

(c)

This article is enacted to protect, preserve, and promote the health, safety, welfare, peace and quiet of the residents of Bonita Springs through the reduction, control, and prevention of excessive, loud and raucous noises that unreasonably disturb, alarm, injure, or endanger the comfort, repose, health, peace, or safety of reasonable persons with normal sensitivities.

(d)

Nothing contained in this article is intended to infringe upon the constitutionally protected rights guaranteed by Article I, Section 6 of the Florida Constitution and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. This article enacts narrowly drawn, content-neutral regulations that are to be interpreted so as to not unduly restrict constitutionally protected rights.

(e)

Definitions. The words and phrases used in this article are defined as follows:

A-weighted level (dBA) means the sound pressure level in decibels as measured using the A-weighting network on a sound level meter. The unit of measurement is the dBA. Sound level meter settings shall be for slow response.

Agricultural use means land used primarily for farming, the raising of farm animals, and nurseries.

Ambient noise means the all-encompassing noise associated with a given environment, being usually a composite of sound from many sources near and far.

Commercial use means land used primarily for the sale of merchandise or goods, the performance of a service, or for office or clerical work.

Continuous noise means a noise which remains essentially constant in level during the period of observation.

Council means Bonita Springs City Council.

Decibel (dB) means a division of a logarithmic scale used to express the ratio of two like quantities proportional to power or energy. The ratio is expressed in decibels by multiplying its common logarithm by ten.

Emergency means an occurrence or set of circumstances involving actual, threatened or imminent physical trauma or property damage which necessitates immediate action.

Emergency work means any work performed for the purpose of preventing or alleviating the physical trauma or property damage threatened or caused by an emergency, including restoration work to return property to a safe condition following an emergency.

Impulsive sound means a sound of short duration, usually less than one second, with an abrupt onset and rapid decay. Examples of sources of impulsive sound include explosions and drop forge impacts.

Industrial use means land used primarily for manufacturing, processing and other industrial uses.

Lee County Sheriff's Office means the designated authority charged with administration and enforcement of the Lee County Noise Control Ordinance.

Noise means any sound which annoys or disturbs humans or causes or tends to cause an adverse psychological effect on humans. "Noise" includes low frequency sounds caused by amplified bass music that can result in vibration of structures or persons.

Noise disturbance means one or a group of excessive, loud, harsh, raucous, nonharmonious sounds or vibrations that unreasonably disturb, alarm, injure, harm or endanger the health or welfare of a reasonable person with normal sensitivities.

Noise level means the noise level is the sound pressure level as measured in dBA unless otherwise specified. A measurement of noise must be at least five dB above the ambient noise level.

Person means any individual, natural person, public or private corporation, firm, association, joint venture, partnership, or any other entity whatsoever or any combination of such, jointly and severally.

Public space means any real property or structure thereon normally accessible to the public which is owned or controlled by a governmental entity.

Pure tone means any sound which can be distinctly heard as a single pitch or a set of single pitches. For the purposes of measurement, a pure tone shall exist if the one-third octave band sound pressure level in the band with the tone exceeds arithmetic value of the sound pressure levels of the two contiguous one-third octave bands by five dB for center frequencies of 500 Hz and above and by eight dB for center frequencies between 160 and 400 Hz and by 15 dB for center frequencies less than or equal to 125 Hz.

RMS sound pressure means the square root of the time averaged square of the sound pressure, denoted Prms.

Real property line means an imaginary line including its vertical extension which separates the real property owned, rented or leased by one person from that owned, rented or leased by another person, excluding intra-building real property divisions except as otherwise provided herein.

Receiving land means land area neighboring or in the vicinity of a sound source and on or at which the sound emanating from the sound source is audible to the normal ear and/or felt in the form of vibration.

Residential use means land use that is primarily for living and sleeping, parks, hospitals, schools, institutional, nursing homes or the individual plots within a mobile home park or any land use that is not commercial or industrial.

Sound level means the weighted sound pressure level obtained by the use of a metering characteristic and weighting A, B, or C as specified in the American National Standards Institute specifications for sound level meters ANSI S1.4-1983, or successor publications. If weighting employed is not indicated, the A-weighting shall apply.

Sound level meter means an instrument to measure the sound pressure level of relatively continuous and broadband noises. The sound level meter used to determine compliance with this article shall meet or exceed the requirements for type 2 sound level meter in accordance with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Standard S1.4-1983 or its successor publication.

Sound pressure level means 20 times the logarithm to the base 10 of the ratio of the RMS sound pressure to the reference pressure of 20 micropascals (20 x 10 ^-6 N/m ). The sound pressure level is denoted Lp or SPL and is expressed in decibels.

Sound source means the location from which the impermissible sound level or noise disturbance is emanating.

(Ord. No. 14-027 , § 3, 11-6-2014)