Chicopee, MA Noise from Specific Sources: Delivery Truck Noise (2026)

Section 200-3(F) of the Chicopee Code targets the noise of freight handling. It prohibits the creation of a loud and/or excessive noise in connection with loading or unloading any vehicle and/or the opening and destruction of bales, boxes, crates and containers. The code then supplies a number: loud or excessive noise for the purposes of the section is 70 decibels or more for a period in excess of 4 hours. Both parts of the test matter as printed, the 70 decibel level and the duration beyond 4 hours.

The vehicle noise itself sits in other subsections. Section 200-3(A) prohibits repeated or continuous sounding of a horn or signal device on a stationary vehicle other than as a danger signal, and § 200-3(B) prohibits a vehicle so out of repair or so loaded as to create repeated or continuous loud, unnecessary grating, grinding, rattling or other noise. Section 200-3(C) requires a muffler or other effective device on engine exhaust.

Waste hauling has its own hour limit in § 200-5, added 10-20-2009 by Ord. No. 09-27: dropoff, pickup, emptying and removal of trash container dumpsters within 1,000 feet of any residential zone is prohibited between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. That rule is about dumpster service, so it applies to the truck and container handling described there and not to every delivery.

Work at a loading dock is also a business activity. Section 200-3(I) prohibits the creation of any unnecessary noise in the operation, conduct and/or maintenance of any business, factory, plant, yard or manufacturing establishment. The general standard in § 200-2 prohibits any unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise.