Perth Amboy, NJ Environmental Rules: Vehicle Idling Restrictions (2026)

The idling rule is § 132-6(B) of the Perth Amboy City Code, part of Chapter 132, Air Pollution. It bars any person from causing, suffering, allowing or permitting the motor of a diesel-powered or gasoline-powered vehicle to be in operation for more than three consecutive minutes if the vehicle is not in motion. The section prints one adjustment for cold weather: where the ambient temperature is thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit (32° F.) or less, the permitted period for idling is five consecutive minutes instead. Chapter 132 defines a motor vehicle as any vehicle propelled otherwise than by muscular power, except vehicles that run only on rails or tracks, so cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles all fall inside it.

Four exemptions are printed in the section: buses discharging or picking up passengers, vehicles stopped in a line of traffic, electric motor vehicles, and emergency vehicles in performance of their prescribed function. A delivery truck waiting at a curb or a parked car with the heater running is not on that list.

The same section, in subsection A, also bars anyone in the City of Perth Amboy from letting substances be emitted into the open air in such quantities as to result in air pollution, with an exception only for the use of economic poisons.

Construction and demolition sites carry a tighter clock. Section 185-4 says no construction or demolition site shall permit the idle running of construction or demolition vehicles or machinery for more than five minutes unless proven necessary for vehicle or machinery maintenance and care. Permits for those projects come from the Department of Code Enforcement under § 185-2.

Section 132-4(C) separately limits visible smoke from mobile sources: smoke darker than No. 2 on the Ringelmann Smoke Chart, or greater than forty percent opacity, for more than ten consecutive seconds. Section 132-4(E) exempts motor vehicles operating on the public highways from that smoke section, but not from the idling limit.

Chapter 132 is enforced through the Central Jersey Regional Air Pollution Control Agency, and § 132-8 lets the Agency and the Health Officer of the City of Perth Amboy inspect premises subject to the chapter.