East Brunswick, NJ Noise Ordinances: Leaf Blower Rules (2026)

Section 147-9 of the East Brunswick Township noise chapter splits yard work into two groups. Paragraph A covers equipment used by a residential property owner or tenant: power tools, home maintenance tools, and landscaping or yard maintenance equipment cannot run between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. unless the activity can meet the sound limits in Tables I, II or III. Paragraph B covers nonresidential operators, with commercial operators and public employees given as examples, and applies to residential, commercial, industrial and public property, including golf courses, parks and athletic fields. Their quiet window is 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. on weekdays and 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. on weekends or federal holidays.

Chapter 147 never uses the words leaf blower or gas blower. The rule reaches them as landscaping and yard maintenance equipment, and it regulates hours and mufflers rather than naming a fuel type. Emergency work is excluded, and § 147-2 defines it to include removing fallen trees on public rights-of-way. Outside the quiet window the Table limits do not apply at all. Both paragraphs add that all motorized equipment must be operated with a muffler and/or sound reduction device, which the chapter defines as a baffle, shroud, jacket, enclosure, isolator or dampener provided by the manufacturer or otherwise required.

The definitions in § 147-2 set WEEKDAY as beginning Monday at 7:00 a.m. and ending the following Friday at 6:00 p.m., and WEEKENDS as beginning Friday at 6:00 p.m. and ending the following Monday at 7:00 a.m. Noise Control Officers and Noise Control Investigators enforce the chapter. Under § 147-5, an Investigator can pursue time-of-day violations because those cases need no sound level meter.