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<section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="3-401" title_number="3" title_name="Noise Control" subtitle_number="4" subtitle_name="Rulemaking and Enforcement">
  <level label="a">
    <text>Except as otherwise provided by law, the Department shall adopt environmental noise standards, sound level limits, and noise control rules and regulations as necessary to protect the public health, the general welfare, and property.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <text>In adopting environmental noise standards, the Department or a political subdivision that chooses to adopt environmental noise standards shall consider:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Information published by the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency on the levels of environmental noise that must be attained and maintained in defined areas under various conditions to protect public health and welfare with an adequate margin of safety; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Scientific information about the volume, frequency, duration, and other characteristics of noise that may harm public health, safety, or general welfare, including:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>Temporary or permanent hearing loss;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>Interference with sleep, speech communication, work, or other human activities;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>Adverse physiological responses;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iv">
        <text>Psychological distress;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="v">
        <text>Harm to animal life;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="vi">
        <text>Devaluation of or damage to property; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="vii">
        <text>Unreasonable interference with the enjoyment of life or property.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <level label="1">
      <text>In adopting sound level limits and noise control rules and regulations, the Department or the political subdivision shall consider, among other things:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>The residential, commercial, or industrial nature of the area affected;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>Zoning;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>The nature and source of various kinds of noise;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iv">
        <text>The degree of noise reduction that may be attained and maintained using the best available technology;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="v">
        <text>Accepted scientific and professional methods for measurement of sound levels; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="vi">
        <text>The cost of compliance with the sound level limits.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The sound level limits adopted under this subsection shall be consistent with the environmental noise standards adopted by the Department.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>The sound level limits and noise control rules and regulations adopted under this subsection may not prohibit trapshooting or other target shooting on any range or other property in Frederick County that the Frederick County Department of Planning and Zoning has approved as a place for those sporting events.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>The sound level limits and noise control rules and regulations adopted under this subsection shall be as follows for residential heat pumps and air conditioning units:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>Residential heat pumps 75 dba; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>Residential air conditioning units 70 dba.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="5">
      <level label="i">
        <text>The sound level limits and noise control rules and regulations adopted under this subsection may not prohibit trapshooting, skeetshooting, or other target shooting between the hours of 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. on any range or other property of a shooting sports club that is chartered and in operation as of January 1, 2001.</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>This paragraph does not apply in Allegany County, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Calvert County, Charles County, Garrett County, Howard County, Montgomery County, St. Mary’s County, and Washington County.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="6">
      <level label="i">
        <text>Except as provided in subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph, the Department may not adopt sound level limits and noise control rules and regulations under this subsection that prohibit trapshooting, skeetshooting, or other target shooting between the hours of 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. in Allegany County, Anne Arundel County, Garrett County, or Washington County on any range or other property of a shooting sports club that is chartered and in operation as of January 1, 2005.</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <level label="1">
          <text>Subject to the provisions of subsubparagraph 2 of this subparagraph, the Department may adopt sound level limits and noise control rules and regulations under this subsection that prohibit trapshooting, skeetshooting, or other target shooting between the hours of 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. in Allegany County, Anne Arundel County, Garrett County, or Washington County on any range or other property of a shooting club that the Department determines is not in compliance as of January 1, 2005 with environmental noise standards, sound level limits, or noise control rules and regulations adopted under this title.</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>A sound level limit or noise control rule or regulation adopted under this subsection shall allow trapshooting, skeetshooting, and other target shooting between the hours of 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. by a shooting sports club that the Department determines has become compliant with sound level limits and noise control rules and regulations adopted under this title.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="7">
      <level label="i">
        <text>In this paragraph, “main stage” means the primary and usual performance space used by artists or other persons at an outdoor concert venue with a fixed–seat capacity for 4,000 or more individuals.</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>Except as provided in subparagraph (iv) of this paragraph, in Howard County, the sound level limits and noise control rules and regulations adopted under this subsection may not prohibit the electronic amplification of sound at an outdoor concert venue with a capacity of over 15,000 individuals that:</text>
        <level label="1">
          <text>Within the area that is included in a 0.25 mile radius of the main stage of the venue, produces sound that, at a residential property line, is:</text>
        </level>
        <level label="A">
          <text>85 dba or lower between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m.; and</text>
        </level>
        <level label="B">
          <text>55 dba or lower between 11:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>Within the area that is between a 0.25 mile radius and a 0.75 mile radius of the main stage of the venue, produces sound that, at a residential property line, is:</text>
        </level>
        <level label="A">
          <level label="72">
            <text>5 dba or lower between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m.; and</text>
          </level>
        </level>
        <level label="B">
          <text>55 dba or lower between 11:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.; and</text>
        </level>
        <level label="3">
          <text>Within the area that is outside a 0.75 mile radius of the main stage of the venue, produces sound that, at a residential property line, is:</text>
        </level>
        <level label="A">
          <text>65 dba or lower between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m.; and</text>
        </level>
        <level label="B">
          <text>55 dba or lower between 11:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>The limitations concerning the electronic amplification of sound at an outdoor concert venue under subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph apply even if the concert venue uses one or more satellite stages for an event at the venue.</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iv">
        <level label="1">
          <text>Except as provided in subsubparagraph 2 of this subparagraph, an outdoor concert venue with a capacity of over 15,000 individuals may not produce any electronic amplification of sound between 11:30 p.m. and 9:00 a.m.</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>The limitations concerning the electronic amplification of sound at an outdoor concert venue under subsubparagraph 1 of this subparagraph do not apply to an activity sponsored or authorized by the Howard County Public School System between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
      <level label="v">
        <text>Notwithstanding § 3–105(a)(1) and (2) of this title, the noise control ordinances, rules, or regulations adopted by Howard County and in effect on October 1, 2013, do not apply to the electronic amplification of sound at an outdoor concert venue in the county with a capacity of over 15,000 individuals.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <level label="1">
      <text>This section does not authorize the Department to adopt environmental noise standards, sound level limits, or noise control rules and regulations that apply to noise from:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>Construction or repair work on public property;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>Fire or rescue station alerting devices; or</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>In Frederick County or Frederick City:</text>
        <level label="1">
          <text>A fair listed in the Maryland Agricultural Fairs and Shows Schedule that is maintained by the Maryland Agricultural Fair Board; or</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>Any other event held on the same grounds as a fair under item 1 of this item.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Noise control rules and regulations that apply to Department of Transportation facilities shall be adopted by the Department of Transportation.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
