Brockton, MA Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Subsection (f) of the noise ordinance sets the numeric backbone for the whole nighttime noise scheme. m. m. Friday and Saturday. Paragraph (f)(2) assigns the measurement job to the Brockton Police Department, which must use 'standard electronic devices generally accepted as measuring tools of noise' to record decibel readings when responding to a complaint. Paragraph (f)(3) fixes where that reading has to be taken: 'at a distance of fifty (50) feet from the source, or from the nearest lot line, whichever distance is less,' so a source close to a property line is measured at the line rather than the full fifty feet.

Outside the restricted hours, the ordinance does not set a numeric ceiling; daytime and early-evening noise is instead judged under the general nuisance standard in subsection (d), which bars noise that 'annoys, disturbs, injures, and/or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, and/or safety' of residents. The 50-decibel figure and its measurement protocol were adopted together with the rest of the current noise ordinance by Ord. No. M03 on February 9, 2021.