Old Bridge, NJ Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

Section 300-4A of the Old Bridge Township Noise Code sets a townshipwide overnight quiet period for residential-scale yard work: noncommercial or nonindustrial power tools and landscaping and yard maintenance equipment, mowers, trimmers, blowers, and similar gear, cannot be operated between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. any day of the week. The subsection also requires that all motorized equipment used for these activities be run with a muffler, tying the quiet-hours rule to the Code's muffler definition at § 300-1, a properly functioning sound-dissipative device that is part of the equipment's normal configuration.

The rule sits alongside a stricter, separate standard at § 300-4B for commercial or industrial power tools and landscaping equipment, barred near residential property between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. on weekdays and 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. on weekends and federal holidays, so a landscaping company working a residential job faces an earlier cutoff than a homeowner mowing a lawn. Chapter 300, adopted by Ordinance No. 2010-05, applies to residential, commercial, industrial and public-space sound sources under § 300-2, and the Old Bridge Township Police enforce it under § 300-3A, with authority to refer complaints to the Middlesex County Health Department for sound-level measurement under § 300-3B(6).

A violation defaults to the Code's general penalty at § 1-3: a fine of up to $1,250, up to 90 days of imprisonment or community service, or a combination, and each day of noncompliance can be charged as a separate offense under § 1-4.