COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — The Coweta County Board of Commissioners approved a new ordinance aimed at improving public safety by limiting disruptive sounds.
The vote was approved unanimously on Nov. 4, meaning there are new rules in effect for noise that could disturb county residents at home and outdoors.
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“The purpose of of this Ordinance is to prevent noise from disturbing the residents of Coweta County in their dwellings and proximate outdoor recreational areas for the reason that such noise jeopardizes the public health, comfort, safety, welfare, and prosperity of the residents of the County and degrades the qualify of life in the County,” according to county records.
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Under the new regulations, noise will mean anything audible to the human ear, including:
- Sound produced by mechanical sound-making devices such as radios, stereos, boom boxes, portable media players, televisions, musical instruments, horns, whistles, bells, chimes or carillons, phonographs, loudspeakers, sound amplifiers and other machines and devices for the producing, reproducing or amplifying of sound;
- Human-produced sounds such as yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling, singing, speaking and arguing;
- Commercial advertising sounds;
- Party noise;
- Sound coming from motorized landscape maintenance devices such as lawn mowers, edgers, weed-whackers, leaf blowers, and chain saws;
- Animal vocalizations from pets or non-domesticated animals;
- Burglar, fire or car alarms;
- Noise coming from construction and demolition activities such as hammering, nailing, drilling, sawing and paving; and
- Noise coming from any commercial property, including restaurants and bars.
The ordinance sets a quiet time between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. for sound within homes and other dwellings.
The ordinance provides some exceptions, such as church bells or chimes, sports league team practices and events, activities at school campuses or band practices and performances as some activities that would be legal still.
There are also exemptions for emergency alerts, as in cases of severe weather or other imminent danger to the public.
Residents could face penalties from the county if non-exempt noises are audible from 100 feet away during the quiet period.
In outdoor recreation areas, rather than neighborhoods, the same rules apply but only if noise is audible past 300 feet instead.
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