5 rules for unincorporated Somerset County, New Jersey.
Verified from official government sources
New Jersey's state noise code, N.J.A.C. 7:29-1.2, caps nighttime sound at 50 dBA at any residential property line from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Every Somerset County municipality enforces this floor and most set stricter local hours.
N.J.A.C. 7:29-1.2
No person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit sound from any industrial, commercial, or community service facility that, when measured at any residential property line of any affected person, is in excess of any of the following: ... Continuous airborne sound which has a sound level in excess of 65 dBA [7:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.]; ... Continuous airborne sound which has a sound level in excess ...
Construction hours are set by each Somerset County municipality, not the state. Bridgewater, Hillsborough, and Bernards limit powered work to weekday daytime, and equipment noise must still meet the 65 dBA daytime limit of N.J.A.C. 7:29-1.2.
N.J.A.C. 7:29-1.2
No person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit sound from any industrial, commercial, or community service facility that, when measured at any residential property line of any affected person, is in excess of any of the following: ... Continuous airborne sound which has a sound level in excess of 65 dBA [7:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.].
Chronic barking is handled by each Somerset County municipality's animal-noise ordinance, backed by disorderly conduct law N.J.S.A. 2C:33-2. Bridgewater, Franklin Township, and Hillsborough bar dogs that disturb neighbors by habitual or prolonged barking.
N.J.S.A. 2C:33-2
A person is guilty of a petty disorderly persons offense, if with purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof he (1) Engages in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior; or (2) Creates a hazardous or physically dangerous condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor.
Leaf-blower limits are set by each Somerset County municipality, not the state. Montgomery, Bernards, and Bernardsville restrict gas blowers by season and operating hour; most towns allow them within general noise-ordinance hours.
Amplified music answers to the state noise code, N.J.A.C. 7:29-1.2, capping sound at 65 dBA by day and 50 dBA overnight at a residential property line, plus each town's ordinance and disorderly conduct law N.J.S.A. 2C:33-2.
N.J.A.C. 7:29-1.2
No person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit sound from any industrial, commercial, or community service facility that, when measured at any residential property line of any affected person, is in excess of any of the following: ... Continuous airborne sound which has a sound level in excess of 65 dBA [7:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.]; ... Continuous airborne sound which has a sound level in excess ...
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