Yreka Municipal Code Ch. 5.16 Sound Trucks

(a) "Person" as used herein includes the singular and the plural and also means and includes any person, firm, corporation, association, club, partnership, society or any other form of association or organization.

(b) "Sound truck" as used herein means any motor vehicle, or horse drawn vehicle, having mounted thereon, or attached thereto, any sound amplifying equipment.

(c) "Sound amplifying equipment" as used herein means any machine or device for the amplification of the human voice, music or any other sound. "Sound amplifying equipment" as used herein does not include 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.

(Ord. 322 § 1, 1958).

(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. 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. State the following:

(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) Registration statement amendment. 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) Registration and identification. The city clerk shall return to each applicant under subsection (a) of this section, one copy of the registration statement duly certified by the city clerk 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 policeman of the city upon request.

(d) Regulations for use. 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 eight hours each day. The permitted eight hours of operation shall be between the hours of ten a.m. and six 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 stop;

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

(5) Nothing herein shall apply to or regulate or prohibit off street use of sound amplifying equipment;

(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 thousand 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.

(Ord. 322 § 2, 1958).

(a) License required. No person shall operate or cause to be operated any sound truck in the city for commercial advertising purposes with sound amplifying equipment in operation unless a license has been obtained from the city clerk. The fee for the license shall be ten dollars per day.

(b) Application for license. Persons applying for the license required under subsection (a) shall file with the city clerk an application in writing giving in the application the information required in the registration statement under Section 5.16.020(a).

(c) Issuance of license. The city clerk shall issue a license under subsection (a) upon payment of the required license fee unless the application required in subsection (b) reveals that the applicant would violate the regulations prescribed in Section 5.16.020(d) or the provisions of some other ordinance of the city.

(d) Possession and display of license. A licensee shall keep such license in his 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 policeman of the city upon request.

(e) Regulations for use. No person shall operate, or cause to be operated, any sound truck for commercial sound advertising purposes in violation of the regulations set forth in Section 5.16.020(d).

(Ord. 322 § 3, 1958).

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

(Ord. 440 § 1 (part), 1970; Ord. 322 § 4, 1958).