Performance standards.
Huntsville Code of Ordinances, App. A, art. 43, § 43.7
in effect43.7. - Performance standards.
43.7.1. General. No part of the airport industrial park district and no improvement thereon shall be used or allowed to be used at any time for the manufacture, storage, distribution, or sale of any product or the furnishing of any service, in a manner which is unreasonably noxious or offensive, or an unreasonable annoyance or a nuisance to other tenants on the airport because of odors, heat, fumes, smoke, noise, glare, vibration, soot, or dust. No activity shall be carried on which may be or may become dangerous to public health and safety; which shall increase the fire insurance rating for adjoining or adjacent property, or which shall be illegal.
43.7.2. Noise. Except for the operation of motor vehicles, aircraft and other transportation facilities to, from, and on a building site or incidental to the use thereof, and on the public airport areas of the airport, the sound pressure level generated on a building site shall not at any point on the property line exceed the decibel level in the designated octave bands shown below:
Octave Band Cycle/ Second | Maximum Permitted Sound Level in Decibels Re 0.0002 Dynes/cm2
3 — 300 | 75
300 — 1,200 | 55
1,200 — 4,800 | 45
4,800 and above | 40
Testing of aircraft engines and other engines shall be conducted in noise-suppressing test cells so that sound levels do not exceed the levels specified above.
43.7.3. Vibration. Maximum permitted vibration from any cause shall not exceed the following when measured at the property line:
Frequency (Cycles/Second) | Displacement (Inches)
10 and below | 0.0008
10—20 | 0.0005
20—30 | 0.0003
30—40 | 0.0002
40—50 | 0.0001
50 and above | 0.0001
43.7.4. Air pollution. Except for the operation of motor vehicles and aircraft to, from, and on the building site or incidental to the use thereof, the following requirements shall apply:
(1) Any use producing smoke, dust, odor, fumes, gas, aerosols, particulates, products or combustion, or any other atmospheric pollutant, shall be conducted within a completely enclosed building.
(2) No use shall emit smoke for more than three minutes in any one hour which is darker than Number One in the Ringelmann Chart as published and revised by the U.S. Bureau of Mines.
(3) No operation shall discharge toxic or noxious matter into the atmosphere.
(4) The emission of noxious or objectionable odors which are detectable without instruments at or beyond the property line will not be permitted.
(5) Particulate matter shall be defined as any material discharged into or suspended in the atmosphere in finely divided form. Calculation of the total net rate of emission of particulate matter within the boundaries of any lot shall be made in the following manner:
(a) Determine maximum emission in pounds per hour from each source of emission and divide this figure by the acres in the lot area, thereby obtaining the gross hourly rate of emission in pounds per acre.
(b) For each gross hourly rate of emission, deduct the height of emission correction factor from the following table, interpolating as necessary for heights not given:
Allowances for Height of Emission
Height of Emission Above Grade (Feet) | Correction Pounds/Hour/Acre
50 | 0.01
100 | 0.06
The result is the net hourly rate of emission in pounds per acre from each source of emission.
(c) Adding together individual net rates of emission gives the total net rates of emission from all sources of emission within the boundaries of the lot.
The total net rate of emission from all sources within the boundaries of a lot in the airport industrial park district shall not exceed one pound per acre of lot area during any one hour. The emission from all sources within any lot area of particulate matter containing more than ten percent by weight of particles having a diameter larger than 44 microns is prohibited. The emission of particles in the form of fly ash from any flue or smokestack shall not exceed 0.2 grains per cubic foot of flue gas at a stack temperature of 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
43.7.5. Stream pollutants. No effluent shall be discharged in any stream, nor any discharge in the Huntsville sewerage system shall be permitted, except as approved by the City of Huntsville City Engineer and the State of Alabama Water Improvement Commission.
43.7.6. Heat or glare. Any operation producing intense glare or heat shall be performed within an enclosed or screened area in such a manner that the glare or heat emitted will not be perceptible without instruments at any property line of a building site.
43.7.7. Fire and explosive hazard. All activities and all storage of flammable and explosive materials shall be in accordance with the National Board of Fire Underwriters' publications and local ordinances.
43.7.8. Industrial waste materials. All disposal of industrial waste shall be in accordance with the State of Alabama Water Improvement Commission regulations therefor.
43.7.9. Radioactive materials. The handling of radioactive materials, the discharge of such materials into the air or water, and the disposal of radioactive wastes shall be in conformance with the regulations of the Atomic Energy Commission as set forth in Title 10, Chapter 1, Part 20, "Standards for Protection Against Radiation," as amended.
43.7.10. Electromagnetic interference. Industries shall emit only that amount of unshielded spurious electromagnetic radiation as is necessary for the conduct of their operations. Federal Communications Commission requirements shall govern maximum radiation which tends to interfere with meaningful signals.
Source: City of Huntsville, Alabama, publisher code (Municode) + enacted ordinances (City Council/Legistar)URL: https://library.municode.com/al/huntsville/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_APXAZOOR_ART43AIINPADIRE_43.7PESTFetched: 11/6/2026