New Britain, CT Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)
Amplified music rules in New Britain, CT, also called sound permit, PA system, or live music ordinances, set decibel limits, time-of-day restrictions, and when permits are required.
Key Facts
- Sound trucks in streets
- banned outright, § 21-21(a)
- Amplifiers in public places
- banned if audible to annoyance
- Exceptions
- industrial zone; government agencies
- Code section
- § 21-21
- Penalty
- up to $150.00 per day, § 1-15
Summary
New Britain bans sound trucks and loudspeakers outright on any public street, and bars radios, phonographs, musical instruments and other sound amplifiers in public streets or places whenever they can be heard to the annoyance of passersby or neighboring premises. Sec. 21-21 carves out only industrial-zone use and government agencies.
(a)Sound trucks prohibited. No person shall operate for any purpose on any public street or highway of the city any device known as a sound truck, loud speaker or sound amplifier, or any instrument of any kind which emits loud or raucous noises and is attached to any vehicle moving or stationary.(b)Sound devices prohibited in public places. No person shall operate sound-producing devices in public streets or places, including but not limited to radios, musical instruments, phonographs, loud speakers, sound amplifiers or recorders in such a manner that the sound from these devices can be heard to the annoyance or inconvenience of persons in such public streets or places, or of persons in neighboring premises.(c)Exceptions. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the use of such devices:(1)Within an industrial zone as established by the zoning ordinances;(2)By departments or agencies of the municipal, state and national governments.
Full Breakdown
Sec. 21-21 of the Code of Ordinances, carried over from Code 1970 § 15-4, splits amplified sound into two absolute prohibitions. Subsection (a) bans operating a sound truck, loudspeaker or sound amplifier, or any device emitting loud or raucous noise, whether attached to a moving or a parked vehicle, anywhere on a public street or highway in the city, with no decibel threshold to meet first. Subsection (b) separately bans operating sound-producing devices, including radios, musical instruments, phonographs, loudspeakers, sound amplifiers or recorders, in public streets or places in a manner that lets the sound be heard to the annoyance or inconvenience of people in those public streets or places, or of people on neighboring premises.
Subsection (c) narrows both bans with two exceptions: use within an industrial zone as established by the zoning ordinances, and use by departments or agencies of municipal, state or national government, such as a public-address system for an official event. A cross-reference at the end of the section points to the broader Noise Control Ordinance beginning at Sec. 16-101, which sets zone-based decibel ceilings for amplified sound emitted from private premises rather than public streets, so a business or resident running amplified music from their own property is instead measured against the Chapter 16 tables and exceptions rather than the flat street ban in Sec.
21-21. Because no specific fine is written into Sec. 21-21 itself, the general penalty in Sec. 1-15 governs: a fine of up to $150.00, with each day a continuing violation persists after a correction order counted as a separate offense.
Violations & Fines
Operating a sound truck, loudspeaker or other amplifier in a New Britain public street or place outside the industrial-zone or government-agency exceptions in Sec. 21-21(c) draws the general penalty of Sec. 1-15: a fine of up to $150.00. A continuing violation after a correction order is charged again for each additional day it persists, at up to $150.00 per day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I drive a sound truck through New Britain streets?
Is playing a radio or speaker in a New Britain park or street illegal?
Are there any exceptions to New Britain's loudspeaker ban?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in New Britain
Compare New Britain to another location·View the Connecticut noise ordinances overview
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