Town Meeting members will gather on October 18 to weigh in on noise regulations, a police station study, the Padanaram maritime center, and new shellfishing rules, among other proposals.

Town Meeting is the town's legislative body — 390 men and women elected from Dartmouth's nine precincts to conduct town business ranging from how the town spends money to how it enforces bylaws. Here’s a recap of what’s on tap.

Proposed noise bylaws address residents’ complaints to Select Board members, said Town Administrator David Cressman. Current regulations focus mostly on musical instruments and electronic devices, as well as unusually loud whistling or shouting.

The proposed updates draw from noise regulations in similar communities, and address noise from motor vehicles, snow vehicles, recreational vehicles, jet skis, and air boats; construction, demolition, and commercial landscaping activities; domestic power tools including lawnmowers, leaf blowers, and chainsaws; and dumpsters and trash receptacles.

While the proposed changes will neither cost more to implement nor be a significant revenue driver for the town, they will give enforcement extra tools, said Cressman.

The proposed bylaws generally prohibit "any loud, unnecessary or unusual, unreasonable or excessive noise which either disturbs, injures or endangers the peace or reasonable quiet...."

Changes were initiated by complaints over a gym-type business that would bring its workouts and boomboxes outside near a residential neighborhood, said Cressman, along with people working on vehicles, and jet skis on Noquochoke Lake.

The penalties will not chang. First violations are punished with a $100 fine; a second violation within 12 months is punishable with a $200 fine; further violations within a year's time result in a $300 fine.

The proposal was supported unanimously by both the Select Board and Finance Committee.

Also on the docket is a request for $215,000 toward the police chief’s hunt for the department’s headquarters.

The $215,000 for the Dartmouth Police is one of several “capital planning” proposals — the big-ticket purchases and costs the town plans for in advance. Others include parking lot updates at the Southworth Library, the purchase of police cruisers, and School Department needs.

Town Meeting representatives will also be asked to OK the use of Community Preservation Act funds to establish a maritime center on Water Street in Padanaram and purchase land on Allens Pond.

The town is also making an effort to update shellfishing regulations and change the way the regulations are enforced.

Currently, the town uses state shellfishing regulations, but that means the state receives any fines collected. By enacting its own rules, the town would be able to collect fines instead, said Harbormaster Steve Melo.

The last major proposal — supported by both the Select Board and Finance Committee — would allow AHEAD, LLC. a six-year tax credit while the business expands its manufacturing plant in the New Bedford Business Park. According to the town’s Finance Committee, the $10.5 million expansion would result in approximately $710,000 in new tax revenue over six years. The agreement exempts approximately 24 percent of these taxes over the six-year period, meaning $167,000 will be exempted. However, without the tax break — which will allow the company to finance the 79,000 square-foot addition — the town would lose $542,000 in new revenue.

Town officials said that the new equipment will also increase the assessed value of personal property, which would be fully taxed and add an estimated $22,000 to the Town’s tax revenues per year. The expansion will also add approximately 25 new jobs, and promotes business in town, according to Select Board members.

Town Meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the Dartmouth Middle School auditorium.