Palm Desert Municipal Code Ch. 5.92 Sound Trucks

The following words shall apply in this chapter:

"Commercial purposes"

means and includes the use, operation or maintenance of any sound amplifying equipment mounted on a sound truck for the purpose of advertising any business, or any goods, wares, merchandise, or services, and for the purpose of attracting the attention of the public to, or advertising for, or soliciting patronage of customers to or for any performance, show, entertainment, exhibition, or event, or for the purpose of demonstrating any such sound equipment.

"Noncommercial"

means the use of, operation or maintenance of any sound equipment for other than a commercial purpose. "Noncommercial purposes" means and includes, but is not limited to, philanthropic, patriotic, charitable, political or community promotion purposes.

"Sound amplifying equipment"

means any machine or device for the amplification of the human voice, music or any other sound. "Sound amplifying equipment" 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"

means any motor vehicle, or other movable vehicle, having mounted thereon, or attached thereto, any sound amplifying equipment.

(Ord. 102 § 1, 1975)

A. 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 written registration statement with the code enforcement supervisor. This registration statement shall be filed in duplicate and shall state the following:

1. Name and home address of the applicant;

2. Address of place of business of applicant;

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

4. Name and address of person who owns the sound truck;

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

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

7. The purpose for which the sound truck will be used;

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

9. The proposed hours of operation of the sound truck;

10. The number of days of proposed operation of the sound truck;

11. A general description of the sound amplifying equipment which is to be used;

12. The maximum sound producing power of the sound amplifying equipment to be used in or on the sound truck as follows:

a. The wattage to be used;

b. The volume in decibels of the sound which will be produced;

c. The approximate maximum distance for which sound will be thrown from the sound truck.

B. All persons using, or causing to be used, sound trucks for noncommercial purposes shall amend any registration statement filed pursuant to subsection A within forty-eight hours after any change in the information therein furnished.

C. The code enforcement supervisor shall return to each applicant under subsection A of this section, one copy of the registration statement duly certified as a correct copy of the application. The 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 the copy shall be promptly displayed and shown to any law enforcement officer of the city upon request.

D. 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 each day, except on Sundays and legal holidays when no operations shall be authorized. The permitted hours of operation shall be between the hours of nine a.m. and six thirty 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 miles per hour except when the truck is stopped or impeded by traffic:

Where stopped by traffic the sound amplifying equipment shall not be operated for longer than one minute at each such stop;

4. Sound shall not be issued within one hundred yards of hospitals, schools, churches, courthouses, or polling places;

5. No sound truck with its amplifying device in operation shall be operated in areas predominately residential (R-1, R-2, R-3), on the following streets between the points designated:

a. All streets south of El Paseo between Highway 74 and Portola Avenue;

b. All streets north of Alessandro Drive between San Pablo and Deep Canyon Road;

c. All streets north of North Palm Desert Drive westerly of San Pablo;

d. All streets westerly of Highway 74 and Monterey Avenue except for Highway 111 and Plaza Way;

e. All streets southerly of South Palm Desert Drive and Frontage Road easterly of Portola Avenue except for El Paseo.

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 two hundred feet from the sound truck and so that the 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 watts of power in the last state of amplification.

(Ord. 102 § 2, 1975)

No person shall operate, or cause to be operated, any sound truck for commercial sound advertising purposes in the city with sound amplifying equipment in operation.

(Ord. 102 § 3, 1975)

Any person who violates any provision of this chapter is deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than six months or by both the fine and the imprisonment.

(Ord. 102 § 4, 1975)