Union, NY Noise from Specific Sources: Low-Frequency Bass Limits (2026)

The low end of the Town of Union's sound table is the 0 to 75 cycles per second band, the range where bass-heavy sound from subwoofers, amplified music systems, and heavy equipment falls. Table 50-1 under § 300-50.2 gives that band a maximum permitted sound-pressure level of 69 decibels, the highest figure anywhere in the table. The next band, 75 to 150 cycles per second, is held to 60 decibels, and the limits keep stepping down through 56, 51, 42, 40, and 38 to 35 decibels for the 4,800 to 10,000 band. The table therefore gives a low-frequency source more room than a high-pitched one, but it does not leave the low band uncapped.

The limit is not a property-line average. Section 300-50.1 provides that the maximum decibel level radiated by any use or facility at any lot lines shall not exceed the values in the designated octave bands given in Table 50-1. The measurement has to be taken with a sound-level meter and associated octave-band analyzer conforming to standards prescribed by the American Standards Association, which means a reading is taken band by band and the 0 to 75 band is checked against its own number.

The boundary rule makes the low band tighter near homes. Where any use adjoins a residential or mixed use district at any point at the district boundary, the maximum permitted decibel levels in all octave bands shall be reduced by six decibels from the maximum levels set forth in Table 50-1. For a use in the Town of Union outside the Villages of Endicott and Johnson City that borders a residential or mixed use district, the 69 decibel figure for the lowest band is therefore reduced by six decibels at the district boundary.