Santa Cruz Municipal Code Part 2 Performance Standards

The purpose of performance standards in the control of land uses in the city is to enable potential nuisance factors to be measured factually and objectively where possible and to protect the community as a whole from hazards and nuisances which can be prevented by modern processes and methods of control and elimination. This section of the Zoning Ordinance is also part of the Local Coastal Implementation Plan.

(Ord. 94-33 § 71, 1994: Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

Potential nuisance factors such as vibration, odor, glare and noise shall be considered as part of use permit and environmental review for all proposed projects. Other nuisance factors such as fire and explosion hazards, radioactivity, air and water contamination are regulated by other agencies of the government (local, state and federal) and regulations of such agencies are adopted herein by reference.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

No land or building in any district shall be used or occupied in any manner so as to constitute any dangerous, injurious, noxious, or otherwise objectionable public nuisance; or fire, explosive, or other hazard; or to create noise or vibration; smoke, dust, odor, or any other form of air pollution; glare, heat, cold, dampness; electrical or other disturbance; radioactivity; liquid or solid refuse and wastes, or any form of water or soil pollution; or other substance, condition, or element in such a manner or in an amount as to adversely affect the surrounding area or adjoining premises.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

Basic industrial processing of extracted or raw materials, processes utilizing flammable or explosive materials (i.e., materials which ignite easily under normal manufacturing conditions), and processes which create hazardous or commonly recognized offensive conditions are prohibited. This includes any use which produces or uses asbestos in any manufacturing process.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

The owner or operator of each land use to which performance standards apply shall be responsible for maintaining a continuing level of performance within the limits set by this part and within the limits established by regional environmental standards. Initial and continued compliance with performance standards prescribed herein is required of every use in the city, and provisions for the enforcement of continued compliance with performance standards shall be invoked by the zoning administrator against any use, if there are reasonable grounds to believe that performance standards are being violated by such use. The zoning administrator shall investigate any purported violation of performance standards and, for such investigation, may employ qualified experts. If such investigation discloses that a violation does, in fact, exist, or that a violation has occurred and that, without corrective action, such violation may reoccur, the zoning administrator shall forward to the zoning board a report of his/her investigation and findings.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

1. Upon receipt of the zoning administrator’s report on a violation of performance standards, a public hearing to consider said matter shall be held by the zoning board.

2. Upon a finding of the zoning board that a violation exists or that corrective action is necessary to prevent the occurrence or the reoccurrence of a violation, the operator of the violating facility shall be ordered to cease and desist; and all permits, zoning clearances or any other approvals for the said operation shall be voided and terminated until such time as the required corrective action is taken and approved by the zoning board following a report by the zoning administrator.

3. Where special qualified consultants have been retained by the city to determine the existence or the extent of a violation, and where the zoning board has ordered corrective action, no permits or approvals for reinstatement of the operation shall be authorized until the operator of the facility shall reimburse the city, in full, for the cost of employing the special qualified consultants.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

The determination of the existence of any dangerous and objectionable elements shall be made at the location of the use creating the same, and at any points where the existence of such elements may be most apparent (herein referred to as “at any point”); provided, however, that the measurement necessary for the enforcement of performance standards having to do with noise, vibration, odors, or glare, shall be taken at the following points of measurement:

1. For activities located in any district except the C-B or the I-G Districts: at any point on or outside the property plane of the property upon which the activity is conducted;

2. For activities located in the I-G Districts: at any point on or outside the boundary of the district within which the activity is conducted;

3. For activities located in the C-B Districts: at any point over one thousand one hundred feet from the point of emission.

4. For activities located in any district, except the C-B or I-G Districts, where a noise conflict may result from a mix of uses on one property: at any one point along a wall, ceiling, floor, door or passageway which separates the use from which the noise emanates, from other uses on the same property.

5. The appropriate methodology and standards for the preparation of noise reports shall be prepared by and on file with the department of planning and community development for use in the enforcement of this chapter.

(Ord. 85-34 § 1, 1985: Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

At the points of measurement specified in this part, the maximum sound level shall not exceed the following limits:

1. Noise Limits, Residential Property. No person shall produce, suffer or allow to be produced by any machine, animal or device, or any combination of the same, on residential property, a noise level more than five dBA above the local ambient. The local ambient shall establish the maximum noise limit. More stringent noise limits may be established for specific uses through the conditions of a use permit.

2. Noise Limits, Commercial and Industrial Property. No person shall produce, suffer or allow to be produced by any machine or device, or any combination of same, on nonresidential property, a noise level more than six dBA above the local ambient at the points of measurement established in this part. The local ambient shall establish the maximum noise limit. More stringent noise limits may be established for specific uses through the conditions of a use permit.

3. Corrections. The allowable noise level in relation to the ambient level shall be reduced for noise of unusual character. The allowable noise level will be adjusted as follows for unusual noise:

dBA

a. Noise with no unusual character..........0

b. Noise containing a piercing, pure tone............................. +5*

c. Noise that is impulsive, rattling, rising or falling in pitch or volume, humming, screeching, throbbing, pulsating, etc........................ +5

d. Noise which contains speech, music or other information content.... +5

* By adding to the measured noise, the unusual noise is penalized 5dBA.

(Ord. 85-34 § 1, 1985: Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

* Editor’s Note: § 1 of Ordinance 91-18, on the topic of “Noise – Construction Activities,” was formerly codified herein. Said ordinance was originally effective 6/11/91, and was scheduled to expire 1/3/92: it was subsequently extended until 1/13/93 by § 1 of Ord 92-02.

No vibration (other than from transportation facilities or temporary construction work) shall be permitted which is discernible without instruments at the points of measurement specified in this part.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

No emission shall be permitted of odorous gases or other odorous matter in such quantities as to be readily detectable when diluted in the ratio of one volume of odorous air to four volumes of clean air, at the points of measurement specified in this part, or at the point of greatest concentration.

1. Any process which may involve the creation or emission of any odors may be required to provide a secondary safeguard system, so that control will be maintained if the primary safeguard system should fail.

2. There is hereby established as a guide in determining such quantities of offensive odors, Table III, Odor Thresholds, in Chapter 5, Air Pollution Abatement Manual, copyright 1951, by Manufacturing Chemists’ Association, Inc., Washington, D.C., and said manual and/or table as subsequently amended.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

No direct or sky-reflected glare, whether from floodlights or from high-temperative processes, such as combustion or welding, so as to be visible at the points of measurement specified in this part, shall be permitted. This restriction shall not apply to signs or lighting of buildings or grounds for advertising or protection otherwise permitted by the provisions of this title.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

All storage of, and all activities involving inflammable and explosive materials shall be provided at any point with adequate safety devices against, the hazards of fire and explosion, as well as with adequate firefighting and fire-suppression equipment and devices standard in the industry. Burning of waste materials in open fires is prohibited at any point.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

No activities shall be permitted which emit dangerous radioactivity at any point, or electrical disturbance adversely affecting the operation at the point of measurement of any equipment other than that of the creator of such disturbance.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

No emission shall be permitted from any source which shall exceed the permissible amounts or limits established for such emissions by the Rules and Regulations of the Monterey-Santa Cruz Counties Unified Air Pollution Control District.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

No discharge of any materials of such nature or temperature as may contaminate any water supply, interfere with bacterial processes in sewage treatment, or otherwise cause the emission of dangerous or objectionable elements, shall be permitted at any point into public or private sewage systems, or streams, or onto or into the ground, except in conformance with the standards and limitations established by the State Department of Health, the Central Coastal Regional Water Quality Control Board, or the applicable sections of the Santa Cruz Municipal Code. No material or wastes shall be deposited on any property in such form or manner that they may be transferred off the property by natural causes or forces. Any wastes which might be attractive to rodents or insects shall be stored outdoors only in closed containers.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

No drive-through use shall be located adjacent to a residential district. No drive-through use shall be located within one-quarter mile of any other drive-through use. No drive-through use shall be located on a parcel, any part of which is within three hundred feet of the nearest point of a signalized intersection.

(Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).