§ 21-27.3. Railroad train whistle and horn noise pollution prohibited.

(a)

Definitions. "Person" means any individual, corporation, partnership, other legal entity, or any agent or employee thereof.

(b)

Applicability. The provisions of this section shall be applicable only to public railroad-highway grade crossings within the incorporated or unincorporated areas of Miami-Dade County which are equipped with train-activated automatic traffic control devices which shall include ringing bells, flashing light signals, and automatic crossing gates on both sides of the railroad train track.

(c)

Prohibited acts. Notwithstanding anything in this Code to the contrary, it shall be unlawful and a public nuisance for any person operating a railroad train of a railroad company operating wholly within this State to blow or activate, or permit to be blown or activated, any horn or whistle from the railroad train between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. at and in advance of all public railroad-highway grade crossings after the municipality, County, or State has erected signs at such crossings announcing that railroad train horns and whistles will not be sounded during the aforesaid hours.

(d)

Enforcement; costs and attorneys' fees; injunctions; criminal penalty.

(1)

Any municipality or the Director of the Department of Environmental Resources Management or his designee may institute a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction to seek mandatory and prohibitory injunctive relief to enforce compliance with this section.

(2)

If any person violates any of the provisions of this section, such person, upon conviction of any such violation, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) in the discretion of the court. Each day or portion thereof of continuing violation shall be deemed a separate violation of this section.

(3)

All municipalities and the Director of the Department of Environmental Resources Management or his designee are hereby authorized to enforce this section and shall recover attorneys' fees, court costs and costs of enforcement and investigation in any action to enforce this section. Any costs recovered by the Director or his designee shall be deposited in a separate County fund to be used for the general enforcement of this section. Any costs recovered by a municipality shall be deposited in a separate fund of the municipality to be used for the general enforcement of this section.

(Ord. No. 81-56, § 1, 5-19-81; Ord. No. 82-83, § 1, 4-6-82; Ord. No. 84-51, § 1, 6-19-84; Ord. No. 86-89, § 1, 11-18-86)

Editor's note

Ord. No. 81-56, § 1, adopted May 19, 1981; amended the Code by adding § 21-28.1 thereto; in order to avoid duplicate section numbers, the editor has redesignated said section as § 21-27.3.