Stafford Township, NJ Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

The township-wide noise prohibition is § 153-9 of the Stafford Township Code, in the Peace and Good Order chapter, added in 2010 and amended in December 2023. Subsection A prohibits the making, creation or permitting of any unreasonably loud, disturbing or unnecessary noise in the Township. Subsection B prohibits noise of such character, intensity or duration as to be detrimental to the life, health or welfare of any individual, or which either steadily or intermittently injures or endangers the comfort, repose, peace or safety of any individual. The section prints no clock time, so it applies in the afternoon as much as at midnight; what changes after dark is the numeric standard in the Noise chapter.

That chapter divides the day at several points. For a residential receiver, Table I in § 142-5D allows 65 dB outdoors from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and 50 dB from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., with indoor limits of 55 and 40 dB. Noncommercial power tools and landscaping and yard maintenance equipment cannot be operated between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. unless they meet those limits (§ 142-6C(1)). Personal or commercial vehicular music equipment cannot be plainly audible at a residential property line between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. (§ 142-6C(6)). Portable hand-held sound equipment on a public space or right-of-way cannot be plainly audible to anyone but the operator in those same hours (§ 142-6C(8)). Generators can be exercised only between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays (§ 142-6C(10)).

Section 142-4 makes a certified Stafford Township police officer or code enforcement officer the noise control officer for Chapter 142 complaints. Section 142-7C leaves any person's common law or statutory cause of action untouched.