Standards for the regulations of commercial and industrial uses

• 507.1. Purpose.

The purpose of this section is to provide performance standards in the control of commercial and industrial uses in the town. These standards are designed to prevent health and safety hazards, public nuisances, and harmful effects upon the natural environment. They are also designed to permit potential industrial nuisances to be measured factually and objectively, and to ensure that all commercial and industrial uses will provide methods to protect the town from hazards which can be prevented by processes of control and elimination.

If any standards are established by local or state building or fire codes, by local waste water or solid waste ordinances, by the state, department of health or by any federal agency, which conflict with the standards specified in this article, the more stringent or restrictive standards shall apply.

• 507.2. Application of standards.

The provisions of this section shall apply to any commercial or industrial use or source of sound, which has been in existence since 1976 or which shall be expanded or intensified, and any new commercial or industrial use and source of sound proposed to be located anywhere within the town, and shall also apply to any new use proposed to be established in any commercial or industrial zoning district.

If any existing use, process, building or other structure is extended, enlarged, moved, structurally altered or reconstructed, or any existing use of land is modified in any way, the performance standards for the district involved shall apply with respect to such building or other structure or other portion thereof, and with respect to land use which is modified.

Performance standards for any use or process operating in any district, shall be measured proximate to the lot line of the receiving land use or at any point within the receiving land use.

• 507.3. Administration of performance standards.

The administration of the performance standards herein set forth is charged to the zoning enforcement officer. The zoning enforcement officer may hire and designate qualified consultants to assist in the administration of these performance standards. Any proposed use or process, alteration or change to an existing use or process, or determination of compliance for an existing use or process, either as a permitted use or a nonconforming use, shall be reviewed by the zoning enforcement officer, who shall determine compliance or noncompliance herewith.

Subsequent to a study of the use, the zoning enforcement officer may determine that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the use may violate the performance standards set herein and may initiate an investigation.

• 507.4. Required data.

Following the initiation of an investigation, the zoning enforcement officer may require the owner or operator of any proposed use to submit such data and evidence as is needed to make an objective determination. The evidence may include, but is not limited to, the following items:

• • A. Plan of the existing proposed construction and development.

  • B. A description of the existing or proposed machinery, processes and products.

  • C. Specifications for the mechanisms and techniques used or proposed to be used in restricting the possible emission of any of the items referred to in this section.

  • D. Measurements of the amount or rate of emission of the items referred to in this section.

  • E. Certification by a registered professional engineer, experienced in sound measurements as approved by the ZEO, that the proposed use or construction would comply with the requirements and standards for the regulation of commercial and industrial processes as set forth in this section.

Failure to submit data required by the zoning enforcement officer shall constitute grounds for denying a permit for any use of land.

• 507.5. Report by expert consultants.

In the investigation of the compliance with the standards set forth in this article by any existing or proposed use, the zoning enforcement officer may require the owner or operator of the existing use or the applicant for the proposed use to provide a study and report by an expert consultant as to the compliance or noncompliance with said standards of the existing or proposed use, and advise as to how such existing or proposed use, if not in compliance, can be brought into compliance with said standards.

• 507.6. Zoning enforcement officer action.

Within thirty (30) days following the receipt of the required evidence, or receipt of the reports of expert consultants, the zoning enforcement officer shall make a determination as to compliance, he shall authorize the issuance of any permits which may have been withheld pending said determination. The issuance of a permit for a proposed use shall not constitute compliance with the performance standards if, after construction and operation, there is evidence of noncompliance with such standards.

• 507.7. Required alterations.

The zoning enforcement officer may require modifications or alterations in the existing or proposed construction or the operational procedures to ensure that compliance with the performance standards will be maintained. The operator shall be given a reasonable length of time to effect any changes prescribed by the zoning enforcement officer for the purpose of securing compliance with the performance standards.

• 507.8. Zoning board to hear appeal.

The zoning enforcement officer's action with respect to the performance standards procedure, may be appealed to the zoning board of review within thirty (30) days following said action. In the absence of such appeal, the zoning enforcement officer's determination shall be final.

• 507.9. Continued enforcement.

The zoning enforcement officer shall investigate any purported violation of performance standards and, for such investigation, may request that the zoning board employ qualified experts. If he or she finds that a violation occurred or exists, a copy of said findings shall be forwarded to the town solicitor. The services of any qualified experts, employed by the zoning enforcement officer to advise in establishing a violation, shall be paid by the violator if said violation is established, otherwise by the town.

• 507.10. Cancellation of permits.

If, after the conclusion of time granted for compliance with the performance standards, the zoning enforcement officer finds the violation is still in existence, any permits previously issued shall be void, and the operator shall be required to cease operation until the violation is remedied.

• 507.11. Reference works.

All reference works or standards listed in this article, shall be kept on file in the office of the zoning enforcement officer.

• 507.12. Exemptions.

The following uses and activities shall be exempt from the noise and vibration level regulations of this section:

• • A. Noises and vibrations not under the control of the property user.

  • B. The noises of safety signals, warning devices and emergency pressure relief valves.

  • C. Transient noises and vibrations of moving sources such as automobiles, trucks, airplanes and railroads.

  • D. All sounds coming from the normal operations of interstate motor and rail carriers, to the extent that local regulation of sound levels of such vehicles has been preempted by the Noise Control Act of 1972 (42 U.S.C. Section 4901 et seq.) or other applicable federal laws or regulations are exempt from this section.

  • E. The emission of sound in the operation of snow removal equipment at any time, provided such equipment is maintained in good repair.

  • F. Sounds associated with the improvement, restoration or maintenance of roads including snow removal, roadway and sidewalk construction, mowing and tree pruning.

  • G. Sounds resulting from emergency work as defined in subsection 507.27.

• 507.13. Noise.

No use, process, operation or activity shall cause or create noise in excess of the sound levels prescribed below.

• 507.14. Method of measurement.

Sound level measurements shall be made within the receiving property proximate to the property line of the receiving land use, at a point as close to the noise source as feasible. The measurement of the noise must be made with a sound level meter meeting the prescribed ANSI S1.4-1983 standard or latest version thereof.

• 507.15. Permissible sound levels.

  • A. Maximum impulsive sound levels:

    • 1. No person shall cause or allow the emission of impulse noise in excess of 80 dB peak C-weighted sound pressure level during the nighttime (9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.) to any receiving residential land use.

    • 2. No person shall cause or allow the emission of impulse noise in excess of 100 dB peak C-weighted sound pressure level during the daytime (7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.) to any receiving residential land use.

  • B. Receiving land use standards. No person shall create, operate or cause to be operated on private property any source of sound which exceeds the limits set forth in Table I for the receiving land use category when measured at or within the property boundary of the receiving land use.

Table I. Maximum Sound Levels for Receiving Land Use {dB(A)}

 

Levels emitted in excess of the values listed in Table I shall be considered excessive, unnecessary and in violation of this section.

• 507.16. Vibration.

  • A. Ground transmitted vibration shall be measured with a seismograph or complement of instruments capable of recording vibration displacement and frequency, particle velocity, or acceleration simultaneously in three (3) mutually perpendicular directions. The maximum vector resultant shall be less than the vibration displacement permitted. Particle velocity may be measured directly or computed from the formula particle velocity (inches per second) = 6.28 times displacement (inches) times frequency (Hertz).

  • B. Vibration shall be measured at any adjacent lot line and/or within the receiving property proximate to the property line of the receiving land use, at a point as close to the noise source as feasible as indicated, and the vibration shall not exceed the limits shown at the specified points of measurement.

  • C. The maximum permissible particle velocity of the ground vibration shall be as follows:

Particle Velocity

 

• • D. For purposes of this ordinance, steady-state vibrations are vibrations which are continuous, or vibrations in discrete impulses more frequent than sixty (60) per minute. Discrete impulses which do not exceed sixty (60) per minute, shall be considered impact vibrations.

  • E. No vibration is permitted which is discernible to the human sense of feeling for three (3) minutes or more duration in any one (1) hour of the day between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., or of thirty (30) seconds or more duration in any one (1) hour between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.

• 507.17. Smoke.

No emission at any point, from any chimney or otherwise, of visible grey smoke of a shade darker than No. 1 on the Ringelmann Smoke Chart, as published by the US Bureau of Mines in August, 1955, as Information Circular 7718 (Revision of I.C. 6888), except that visible grey smoke of a shade not darker than No. 2 on said chart, may be emitted for not more than four (4) minutes in any thirty (30) minutes. These provisions applicable to visible grey smoke, shall also apply to visible smoke of a different color, but with an equivalent apparent opacity.

In no case shall visible smoke emissions exceed the standards of the Division of Air Pollution Control, of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.

• 507.18. Particulate matter.

Emissions of particulate matter shall meet the minimum standards of the Division of Air Pollution Control, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. No emission shall be permitted which can cause any damage to health, to animals or vegetation, to property, or which can cause excessive soiling at any point.

• 507.19. Gas.

No uses shall emit noxious, toxic or corrosive fumes or gases in concentrations or amounts causing discomfort of injury to humans or harmful to vegetation or in no case, in excess of the maximum allowable concentrations permitted of those toxic materials currently listed in Threshold Limited Values adopted by the American Conference of Governmental Hygienists. If a toxic substance is not contained in this listing, the applicant shall satisfy the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Management of the State of Rhode Island, that the proposed levels will be safe to the general population. The release of airborne toxic matter shall not exceed thirty-hundredths ( 30/100 ) of the threshold limit value across lot lines.

• 507.20. Liquid waste.

Liquid effluent from any treatment plant which is discharged into the ground shall at all times comply with the following standards:

• • A. Maximum five-day biochemical oxygen demand: Twenty (20) parts per million.

Maximum total solids: Five thousand (5,000) parts per million.

Maximum phenol: One-hundredths (0.01) parts per million.

Maximum pH limits: Above 6.5 or below 8.0.

• • B. A septic tank, tile field disposal bed or trench or other disposal place for any liquid waste, shall not be located less than one hundred fifty (150) feet from the nearest point of any river, pond, wetland or any drinking water supply.

  • C. No effluent shall contain any other acids, oils, dust, toxic metals, corrosive or other toxic substance in solution or suspension, which would create odors, discolor poison, or otherwise pollute any stream or underground water source.

  • D. No discharge shall raise the temperature of a water body above temperatures which can support normal aquatic life in such water body.

• 507.21. Odors.

Emission of odorous gases or other odorous matter released from any operation or activity shall not exceed the odor threshold concentration beyond lot lines measured either at ground level or habitable elevation.

• 507.22. Toxic matter.

The measurement of toxic matter shall be at ground level or habitable elevation, and shall be the average of any twenty-four-hour sampling period. The release of airborne toxic matter across lot lines shall not exceed thirty-hundredths ( 30/100 ) of the threshold limit values as currently established by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists.

• 507.23. Heat and glare.

No use shall carry on any operation that would produce unreasonable heat beyond the property line of the commercial or industrial district.

Any manufacturing operation or activity producing glare, shall be conducted so that direct or indirect light from the source shall not cause illumination in excess of five-tenths (0.5) footcandles when measured in a neighboring residential district, or public highway.

• 507.24. Fire and explosive hazards.

All industrial uses and storage facilities shall be approved by the state fire marshal with regard to fire and explosive hazards.

• 507.25. Radiation.

Manufacturing operations shall cause no dangerous radiation at the property line, as specified by the regulations of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

• 507.26. Extractive industrial uses.

All extractive industrial uses (use code category 9.0) in any zone shall be subject to the following performance standards, in addition to all of the preceding standards.

• • A. Hours of operation. The conduct of such use shall not take place on a regular basis, prior to 6:30 a.m. nor after 7:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday (herein referred to as "normal hours"), nor at anytime on Sunday. For the purposes of this section, a "regular basis" shall be defined such that the above hours shall not be exceeded on more than thirty (30) days in any given calendar year, and in no instance shall such use be conducted before 5:30 a.m. nor after 10:00 p.m.

  • B. Limitations on rock crushing. The operation of a rock or stone crusher, whether permitted as of right, as a special use permit or as a nonconforming use, shall not be permitted to expand, intensify or install new rock-crushing machines, unless it is fully enclosed within a building, so as to control noise and dust.

• 507.27. Definitions.

For the purposes of section 507 the following definitions are applicable.

A-weighted sound level. The sound pressure level in decibels as measured with a sound level meter using the "A" weighting network. The unit of measurement is the dB(A).

C-weighted sound level. The sound pressure level measured with a sound level meter using the "C" weighting network. The unit of measurement is the dB(C).

Commercial receptor. Those parcels having use code categories 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 as set forth in article 3 and appendix A.

Decibel (dB). A unit for measuring amplitude of sound, equal to 20 times the logarithm to the base 10 of the ratio of the pressure of the sound measured to the reference pressure, which is twenty (20) micropascals (twenty (20) micro-newtons per square meter).

Emergency work. Any work made necessary to restore property and roadways to a safe condition following an emergency to protect persons or property from exposure to imminent danger or damage.

Impulsive sound. Sound of short duration, usually less than one (1) second, with an abrupt onset and rapid decay.

Industrial receptors. Those parcels having use code categories 7, 8 or 9 as set forth in article 3 and appendix A.

Residential receptor. Includes agricultural uses and are those parcels having use code categories 0 or 1 as set forth in article 3 and appendix A.

Sound level meter. An instrument, which includes a microphone, an amplifier, and output meter and frequency weighting networks, for the measurement of sound levels, which meets the specifications set forth in American National Standards Institute (ANSI) specifications for sound level meters (ANSI S1.4-1971 or its successor publications).

(Ord. of 4-24-00)