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

Sec. in a manner that causes a noise disturbance, covering the clang of a dumpster lid, pallet jacks on pavement, or a delivery truck's lift gate outside a restaurant or grocery store after hours. The provision reaches commercial deliveries, trash and recycling hauling, and construction-material handling alike, layered on top of, not instead of, the general construction-noise hours in Sec. 9-116(3) and the overnight decibel table in Sec. 9-117. Because 'noise disturbance' is defined in Sec. 9-115 as sound that annoys, disturbs, or endangers the comfort or peace of others in the city, a business does not need to exceed a specific decibel reading to violate this clause; a pattern of loud early-morning deliveries that draws resident complaints is itself the violation.

The chief of police and the superintendent of inspectional services enforce the section under Sec. c. 40, § 21D, and the standard $300-per-offense penalty in Sec. 1-11 applies absent a more specific fine, with repeated overnight deliveries treated as separate offenses on separate days.