Newark, OH Noise from Specific Sources: Delivery Truck Noise (2026)

Delivery and freight noise in the City of Newark, Ohio is addressed by Section 634.04(a)(6) of the Newark Code of Ordinances, titled loading and unloading. The paragraph prohibits any person from loading, unloading, opening, closing or otherwise handling boxes, crates, containers, building materials, garbage cans or similar objects between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. of the following day in such a manner as to cause a noise disturbance across a residential real property boundary.

The operative test has two parts. The first is the clock: the prohibition applies only in the 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. window. The second is the effect: the handling must produce a noise disturbance, which Section 634.02 defines as any sound that endangers or injures the safety or health of humans or animals, annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivities, or endangers or injures personal or real property. The sound must cross a residential real property boundary, meaning the imaginary line, with its vertical extension, that separates property owned by one person from property owned by another.

The objects listed are broad. Building materials and garbage cans appear beside boxes, crates and containers, so a pallet drop at a rear dock, a dumpster lid slammed shut or a tailgate unload at a store behind homes can each qualify. Section 634.04(a)(5)A adds a separate limit on trucks above 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating that stand running for more than five minutes in any hour in the same night window.

Section 634.05 also applies to the site as a whole, holding residential receiving property to 50 dBA from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. and 60 dBA otherwise. Section 634.06(b)(2) exempts refuse collection vehicles from the Table 1 levels, but not from Section 634.04. Law enforcement officers can inspect under Section 634.08.