Hempstead, NY Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

" The operative rule, § 144-5, states: no person shall operate or cause to be operated any mechanism or device, including but not limited to airplanes, which creates a noise within the Town exceeding the limiting noise spectra set forth in Tables I and II. Table I sets the ceiling for transient noise (duration of one minute or less) and Table II sets a lower ceiling for steady noise (duration exceeding one minute), each expressed in decibels across seven octave bands from 63 to 8,000 cycles per second.

Section 144-6 fixes how those readings must be taken: at an altitude not exceeding 100 feet above sea level, and, for noise from devices including motor vehicles, at a distance of at least 100 feet from the vehicle's longitudinal center line; machinery noise on private property is measured at the property line. This Article predates the Federal Aviation Administration's later, more comprehensive assumption of authority over aircraft noise standards, but it remains printed and in force as local law in Chapter 144 today, applying Town-wide outside incorporated villages, which are separate governments with their own codes.