Chelsea, MA Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Chelsea's noise-control ordinance does not set numeric decibel caps; instead Sec. 16-99(a) defines "unreasonable noise" by how far it plainly carries. The base rule: any noise "plainly audible at a distance of 300 feet" is unreasonable anywhere in the city. Inside a residentially zoned district, the threshold is cut in half: "the term 'unreasonable noise' means noise which is plainly audible at a distance of 150 feet," so the same source is judged more strictly once it originates in, or is measured from within, a residential zone.

That baseline definition feeds two more specific rules elsewhere in the same section. Under Sec. weekday window if the noise is not plainly audible at a distance of 150 feet, matching the residential-zone threshold. Under Sec. only if it produces noise plainly audible at a distance of 200 feet. The city council's stated intent, in Sec. 16-99(b), is that the section reaches "preventable and unnecessary noise" without regulating "the usual and customary noise incidental to urban life," and that zoning character and customary business or industrial noise be given due consideration so lawful commercial and industrial operations are not placed under undue hardship.