Burlington, WI Noise from Specific Sources: Delivery Truck Noise (2026)

Section 315-26L governs loading docks, on-site loading spaces, and building service areas within Burlington's B-1 Neighborhood Business District, added by Ord. No. 1657(5) in 2001. Subsection L(1) already bars loading docks from facing or fronting an abutting public street right-of-way, and L(2) requires them to be screened from residential properties and rights-of-way with a wall or sight-proof fence and landscaping approved by the City Plan Commission. Subsection L(3) is the specific noise control: no truck may be left with its engine or other motorized equipment, such as a refrigeration unit, running if that noise exceeds a maximum permitted exterior sound level of 50 dBA, using the A-weighting scale of sound measurement, at the property line, and that level cannot be exceeded for more than 30 minutes out of any 24-hour period.

In plain terms, a delivery truck can idle briefly at a loading dock without violating the code, but a refrigerated trailer or diesel engine that runs loud for longer stretches crosses the line. The rule sits alongside Subsection M's separate 24-hour parking and screening limits on trucks and trailers in the same district, so a business with a noisy reefer unit parked at its dock can face both the noise standard and the parking screening requirement at once. Compliance is checked by the City Plan Commission and Building Inspector as part of site plan review, and by the Police Department on complaint.