Chatham County, GA Noise from Specific Sources: Delivery Truck Noise (2026)

the following morning, Sec. 24-305(3) prohibits handling boxes, crates, containers, building materials, refuse, garbage cans, motor vehicles, or similar objects in a manner that creates a noise disturbance across a residential real property boundary or inside a posted Noise Sensitive Area, defined under Sec. 24-302 as a zone posted for schools, churches, hospitals or nursing homes. The prohibition sits alongside Sec. 24-304's Table 1 decibel ceilings; a delivery truck's backup alarm, dock plate, or pallet jack noise crossing into a residential lot during the curfew window is judged a disturbance even without a specific decibel reading, because the section is written as a conduct standard rather than a numeric one.

The same article separately restricts vehicle or motorboat repair and testing (Sec. 24-305(4)) and idling of vehicles over 1,000 pounds GVWR within 150 feet of residential property for more than 20 consecutive minutes (Sec. 24-307(1)(a)), so a delivery truck idling at a dock while unloading after hours can draw a second citation. Chatham County's Noise Control Officer, designated under Sec. 24-311, enforces the section and can order abatement of a documented pattern of after-hours deliveries.