§ 15-179. Purpose; intent; authority and responsibility of environmental protection officer and investigating officer.

(a)

The purpose of this article is to prevent, prohibit, and also provide for the abatement of, excessive and unnecessary noise, known as noise disturbance, in order to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of people of the county.

(b)

It is the intent of this article to clearly define and describe the respective authority and responsibility under this article for the environmental protection officer and the investigating officer relating to noise disturbance investigation and enforcement, unless the noise disturbance is otherwise exempt under this article.

(c)

The environmental protection officer shall have the authority pursuant to this article to investigate and, if applicable, issue a notice of violation or civil citation as provided in this article in any case involving a noise disturbance emanating from residential property under construction or a nonresidential property that exceeds the allowable limits set forth in section 15-182 of this article.

(d)

The investigating officer shall have the authority pursuant to this article to investigate and, if applicable, issue a civil or criminal citation for a violation of the plainly audible standard, as established in section 15-183(b), and noise disturbance complaints which may involve the consumption of alcohol or any suspected illegal activities and noise disturbance complaints involving "breach of the peace" as defined in F.S. § 877.03.

(Code 1965, § 21B-5; Ord. No. 86-26, § 5, 10-27-86; Ord. No. 95-31, § 1, 9-26-95; Ord. No. 2008-19 , § 3, 9-30-08; Ord. No. 2014-17 , § 1, 6-24-14)

Editor's note

Ord. No. 2014-17 , § 1, adopted June 24, 2014, amended § 15-179 and in so doing changed the title from "Purpose" to "Purpose; intent; authority and responsibility of environmental protection officer and investigating officer."