9.22.120 Regulations for use.
The operation or maintenance of sound equipment shall be subject to the following regulations:
A. Only music and human speech are permitted.
B. Operations are permitted only between the hours of nine a.m. and six p.m., of each day; except, that sound equipment operating from a fixed location on private premises included in a commercial or industrial zone by the provisions of Title 17 may be operated between the hours of nine a.m. and ten p.m. of any day. The hours of operation and location for use, including within the central traffic district, may be modified by special permit issued by the city manager as otherwise permitted by provisions of this municipal code.
C. Sound equipment shall not be operated within one hundred yards of:
1. Any hospital;
2. Any school, except after school hours and on days when school is not in session and when such school is not being used for the purpose of a public meeting;
3. Any church, except when the same is not being used for religious services or classes;
4. The City Hall or Kern County courthouses, except after five p.m. on weekdays or on weekends or legal holidays;
5. Any mortuary or cemetery, when services are in progress.
D. No sound truck or sound equipment shall be operated or maintained within the central traffic district where the volume of sound is audible for a distance in excess of fifty feet from the sound truck or the exterior boundaries of the premises upon which such sound equipment is located, except that the city council may issue a permit for the installation and operation of a stationary sound equipment affixed to a building for the reproduction or amplification of music or bell tones to be reproduced at regular stated intervals and for a stated period each time, during the day between nine a.m. and ten p.m., upon compliance with all other provisions of this chapter and amendments thereto; and, provided further, that the volume of sound shall be controlled so that it will not be audible for a distance of more than six hundred feet from the point of location of such sound equipment; and, provided further, that such permit may be revoked at any time by the city council, upon satisfactory evidence that such use of such equipment is a nuisance to the surrounding neighborhood, and disturbs and interferes with the reasonable and comfortable enjoyment of life or property of persons residing or working in the neighborhood of such equipment.
E. Except as otherwise stated in this section or by special permit referred to in subsection B of this section, the volume of sound shall be controlled so that it will not be audible for a distance in excess of one hundred fifty feet from the exterior boundaries of the premises upon which such sound equipment is located, and so that such volume is not unreasonably loud, raucous, jarring, disturbing or a nuisance.
F. When any loudspeaker, public address system, sound amplifier, radio or phonograph equipped with loudspeaker, jukebox or any other machine or device for the amplification or reproduction of the human voice, music or any other sound is so arranged, operated or equipped that it can be heard both inside and outside of the building or premises where the same is maintained, and such machine or device is operated at times other than those in which the operation of sound equipment is permitted under the provisions of this chapter, then such machine or device shall be equipped with a control switch located inside such building or premises, in such a manner that all speakers located outside such building or premises can be turned off at times when the operation of sound equipment is prohibited by this chapter. (Ord. 3924 § 3, 1999)