Toledo, OH Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)

Section 507.11(c) of Toledo's Anti-Noise Law sets a specific decibel ceiling for construction machinery distinct from the general zoning-district table in Section 507.14: no sound level from a piece of construction equipment manufactured twenty-four months after the section's effective date may exceed 90 dbA when measured at the construction project's boundary line, either at the property line or at a distance of at least fifty feet from the equipment, while working within a residential area or within 500 feet of a school or hospital. The cap excludes impulsive sound and "critical construction equipment," which Section 507.02(e) defines as equipment required to run twenty-four hours a day to protect the health and safety of the public and workers, such as dewatering pumps on an open excavation.

Impulse-related sources, pile driving equipment, pavement breakers other than hand-held units, and blasting, are instead governed by the City's separate vibration standard in Section 507.17. A contractor who can't meet the 90 dbA cap may apply for a variance under Section 507.19 rather than simply exceeding it. This equipment standard works alongside, but is distinct from, Section 507.11(a)'s separate 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. operating-hours restriction for the same construction machinery.