Old Bridge, NJ Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Old Bridge Township Code § 250-43A sets the noise performance standard every land use in the Township must maintain continuously. No person may cause, and no development application may be approved for, a use producing sound in excess of the standards, measured at any location outside the lot where the source sits. Continuous airborne sound cannot exceed 50 dBA. The ordinance also prints an octave-band sound-pressure table that no use may exceed in any single band: 86 decibels at 31.5 Hz, 71 decibels at 63 Hz, 61 decibels at 125 Hz, 53 decibels at 250 Hz, 48 decibels at 500 Hz, 45 decibels at 1,000 Hz, 42 decibels at 2,000 Hz, 40 decibels at 4,000 Hz, and 38 decibels at 8,000 Hz, so the allowable ceiling drops steadily as frequency rises.

Impulsive sound, such as a bang or impact noise, is separately capped at 80 decibels. The section incorporates the state Noise Control Regulations, N.J.A.C. 7:29-1.1 et seq., by reference for its definitions, and exempts agricultural uses, religious bells and carillons, commercial motor vehicle operations, emergency utility work, National Warning System signals, aircraft noise, public celebrations, public roadways, and the unamplified human voice. Because these are zoning performance standards rather than a separate noise-permit chapter, a use that exceeds them is treated as a change of use that makes the property's occupancy illegal until corrected; the Township's separate Chapter 300 sets additional time-of-day and 'plainly audible' noise standards enforced by police.