Brea Municipal Code Ch. 5.200 Sound Trucks

For the purpose of this article, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.

"Person."

This term shall include the singular and the plural and shall also mean and include any person, firm, corporation, association, club, partnership, society or any other form of association or organization.

"Sound-amplifying equipment."

Any machine or device for the amplification of the human voice, music or any other sound. This term shall not be construed as including standard automobile radios when used and heard only by occupants of the vehicle in which installed or warning devices on authorized emergency vehicles or horns or other warning devices on other vehicles used only for traffic safety purposes.

"Sound truck."

Any motor vehicle or horse-drawn vehicle having mounted thereon or attached thereto any sound-amplifying equipment.

(1961 Code, § 3.33; Ord. 369)

A. Registration required. No person shall use or cause to be used a sound truck with its sound-amplifying equipment in operation for noncommercial purposes in the city before filing a registration statement with the City Clerk in writing.

B. Filing and contents of statement; amendment of statement.

1. This registration statement shall be filed in duplicate and state the following:

a. Name and home address of the applicant.

b. Address of place of business of the applicant.

c. License number and motor number of the sound truck to be used by the applicant.

d. Name and address of the person who owns the sound truck.

e. Name and address of the person having direct charge of the sound truck.

f. Names and addresses of all persons who will use or operate the sound truck.

g. The purpose for which the sound truck will be used.

h. A general statement as to the section or sections of the city in which the sound truck will be used.

i. The proposed hours of operation of the sound truck.

j. A general description of the sound-amplifying equipment which is to be used.

k. The number of days of proposed operation of the sound truck.

l. The maximum sound-producing power of the sound-amplifying equipment to be used in or on the sound truck. State the following:

(1) The wattage to be used.

(2) The volume in decibels of the sound which will be produced.

(3) The approximate maximum distance for which sound will be thrown from the sound truck.

2. All persons using or causing to be used sound trucks for non-commercial purposes shall amend any registration statement filed pursuant to this section within forty-eighty (48) hours after any change in the information therein furnished.

C. Certified copy of statement to be carried by sound truck operator; exhibition upon request. The city shall return to each applicant under paragraph A. above, one (1) copy of the registration statement duly certified by the city as a correct copy of the application. Such certified copy of the application shall be in the possession of any person operating the sound truck at all times while the sound truck's sound-amplifying equipment is in operation, and such copy shall be promptly displayed and shown to any police officer of the city upon request.

D. Regulations generally. Noncommercial use of sound trucks in the city with sound-amplifying equipment in operation shall be subject to the following regulations:

1. The only sounds permitted are music or human speech.

2. Operations are permitted for four (4) hours each day, except on Sundays and legal holidays when no operations shall be authorized. The permitted four (4) hours of operation shall be between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and between the hours of 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

3. Sound-amplifying equipment shall not be operated unless the sound truck upon which such equipment is mounted is operated at a speed of at least ten (10) miles per hour except when such truck is stopped or impeded by traffic. Where stopped by traffic, such sound-amplifying equipment shall not be operated for longer than one (1) minute at each such stop.

4. Sound shall not be issued within one hundred (100) yards of hospitals, schools, churches or courthouses.

5. No sound truck shall remain standing in one (1) place for more than one (1) minute with its sound-amplifying device in operation.

6. The human speech and music amplified shall not be profane, lewd, indecent or slanderous.

7. The volume of sound shall be controlled so that it will not be audible for a distance in excess of one hundred (100) feet from the sound truck and so that such volume is not unreasonably loud, raucous, jarring, disturbing or a nuisance to persons within the area of audibility.

8. No sound-amplifying equipment shall be operated with an excess of fifteen (15) watts of power in the last stage of amplification.

(1961 Code, §§ 3.35, 3.36 and 3.37; Ord. 369)

A. Required. No person shall operate or cause to be operated any sound truck in the city primarily for commercial advertising purposes with sound-amplifying equipment in operation unless a license has been obtained from the city.

B. Application. Persons applying for the license required under paragraph A. above shall file with the city an application in writing giving in such application the information required in the registration statement under § 5.200.020.B.

C. Fee. The fee for a license shall be twenty-five ($25) per day per vehicle.

D. Issuance. The city shall issue a license under paragraph A. above upon payment of the required license fee unless the application required in paragraph B. above reveals that the applicant would violate the regulations prescribed in § 5.200.020.D. or the provisions of some other ordinance of the city.

E. Carrying by licensee; exhibition upon request. A licensee shall keep such license in his or her possession in the sound truck during the time the sound truck's sound-amplifying equipment is in operation. The license shall be promptly displayed and shown to any police officer of the city upon request.

(1961 Code, §§ 3.38, 3.39, 3.40, 3.41 and 3.42; Ord. 369)