How do you find out a local noise ordinance?

Answer 1

If you want to find out what your local noise ordinance is just go online to your city website. Not there? Go to city hall and ask for a free printout (in most states and cities) for what the local noise ordinances are.

In most cases noise/sound ordinances are city specific and every city deals with them differently. For the most part the decibel level (db) is measure with a sound meter that is weighted for the A setting. If you want to test out how loud you are get a sound meter designed for dba measurements and you're good to go.

Most measurements are done at the property line and usually done on the property of the complaint though sometimes measurements on the offending property is good for defense against pesky neighbors who harass people for being, in their opinion and not fact, too loud. Inside condominiums and apartments they take the dba measurement from inside the home who calls in the offending noise. In many cases this measurement IS NOT done by a police officer as they have little jurisdiction in matters like this unless the sound is grossly over the dba limit (several if not twice the city dba ordinance) and is disturbing the peace.

In most cases the measurement is done by a city worker or Sound Enforcement Official and it has to be measured while the offense is taking place. Usually the need for this service is when something like an indoor party is going on over the course of several hours or a continuous noise can be heard breaking the dba level. Documentation and citation is usually done by these people but not every city has one.

In cases where no one from the city comes to measure the disturbance it is a usually taken care of in a civil court (usually small claims) but without factual documentation of the sounds in question most cases are thrown out.

Again just check out what the dba limits are and if you are unsure about how loud you are, check for yourself to see if you are being a bad neighbor or not. b^^