Greenwich, CT Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

The Code of Ordinances defines "Nighttime" as 10:01 p.m. to 6:59 a.m. local time under § 6B-2(o), and that clock drives two separate nighttime rules. First, the zone-based decibel table in § 6B-5(c) tightens automatically at night: a residential emitter may send only 45 dBA into a residential receptor after 10:01 p.m., down from the 55 dBA daytime ceiling, and the same 45 dBA nighttime cap applies to business-zone sources reaching residential property. Second, § 6B-6(e)(1) bars operating any mechanically powered saw, drill, sander, grinder, lawn or garden tool, or similar domestic power tool, between 9:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. the following day whenever the resulting sound exceeds the § 6B-5 limits, a curfew window that starts earlier than and runs past the general nighttime definition.

Snow-removal equipment is expressly carved out of that tool curfew under § 6B-6(e)(2). Impulse noise, defined as short abrupt bursts under one second, faces its own nighttime ceiling of 80 dB peak sound pressure in a residential zone under § 6B-5(b), tighter than the 100 dB ceiling that applies at any hour. A property owner cannot rely on high ambient background noise to excuse a nighttime violation; § 6B-5(d) still bars any source from exceeding 80 dBA outright regardless of the surrounding noise floor.