Redwood City Municipal Code Art. I In General

The provisions of this Chapter shall be administered by the Chief of Police and his or her authorized representatives, except where expressly provided otherwise. All other officers and employees of the City shall assist and cooperate in the administration and enforcement of this Chapter.

(Ord. No. 1999, § 1, 7-24-89)

A. Specific definitions: For the purposes of this Chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed thereto:

CONSTRUCTION: Any site preparation, assembly, erection, landscaping, substantial repair, alteration, or similar action involving site work, structures or utilities on private or public property or in the public right-of-way.

DWELLING UNIT: A structure or portion thereof, designed or used exclusively for resident occupancy.

EMERGENCY WORK: Essential activities necessary to restore, preserve, protect or save lives or property from imminent danger of loss or harm.

ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: The Chief of Police or the person designated by him/her to carry out the duties of such officer specified in this Chapter.

LOCAL AMBIENT: The lowest sound level repeating itself during a six-minute period as measured with a precision sound-level meter, using slow response and A-level weighting. The minimum sound level shall be determined with the noise source at issue silent and in the same location as the measurement of the noise level of the source or sources at issue. However, for purposes of this Chapter, in no case shall the local ambient be considered or determined to be less than:

1. Thirty (30) dBA for interior noise in Section 24.20B;

2. Forty (40) dBA in all other sections.

If a significant portion of the local ambient is produced by one or more individual identifiable sources which would otherwise be operating continuously during the six-minute measurement period and contributing significantly to the ambient sound level, determination of the local ambient shall be accomplished with these separate identifiable noise sources silent.

NOISE LEVEL: The maximum continuous sound level or repetitive peak sound level produced by a source or group of sources as measured with a precision sound-level meter. In order to measure a noise level, the controls of the precision sound level should be arranged to the setting appropriate to the type of noise being measured.

PRECISION SOUND-LEVEL METER: A device for measuring sound level in decibel units within the performance specifications in the American National Standards Institute Standard S1.4, Specification for Sound Level Meters.

PROPERTY PLANE: A vertical plane, including the property line, which determines the boundaries of real property in space.

RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT: The RH, R-1, R-2, RG, R-3, R-4, R-5 and MH Zoning Districts as designated and defined in Ordinance No. 1130, as amended, the Redwood City Zoning Ordinance.

SOUND LEVEL (expressed in decibels (dB)): The logarithmic indication of the ratio between the acoustic energy present at a given location and the lowest amount of acoustic energy audible to sensitive human ears and weighted by frequency to account for the characteristics of human hearing, as set forth in the American National Standards Institute Standard S1.1, Acoustic Terminology, paragraph 2.9, as said reference may from time to time be amended, revised or superseded. All references to dB in this Chapter utilize the A-level weighting scale, abbreviated dBA, measured as set forth in this Section.

B. Technical Terms: The meaning of technical terms not expressly defined herein shall be obtained from the American National Standards Institute Standard S1.1, Acoustic Terminology, paragraph 2.9, as said reference may from time to time be amended, revised or superseded.

(Ord. No. 1999, § 1, 7-24-89)

(Ord. No. 2472, § 5(Exh. A), 11-25-19)