Noise ordinance — Mount Pleasant Code § 132.03

Chapter 132 is titled "Offenses Against Public Peace and Safety"; § 132.03 is the noise ordinance, adopted by Ord. 22049, passed 2023-03-14. § 132.03(C)(1) sets the numeric limits: it is unlawful to cause or allow emission of sound exceeding 60 dB(A) or 60 dB(C) during daytime hours, and 55 dB(A) or 55 dB(C) during evening hours. DAYTIME HOURS are defined as 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and federal and state holidays; EVENING HOURS are 9:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Friday, Saturday and holidays. § 132.03(B) requires measurement from the complainant's property line (or the nearest public right-of-way boundary if that is not possible), with no one but the operator within ten feet of the meter. § 132.03(D) separately prohibits "excessive noise," defined as any unnecessary or unusually loud sound that disrupts the peace and quiet of any neighborhood and annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of reasonable persons of ordinary sensibilities; ten listed factors govern the determination, and the determination is made without considering the content of any message. § 132.03(E) specific prohibitions: sounding a vehicle horn except as a danger warning; playing a radio, television, phonograph, instrument or similar device so as to be plainly audible from inside another residence or business; building operations between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., and building noise at any time that is plainly audible inside a receiving property; amplified sound plainly audible inside a receiving property; and muffler noise violating SC Code § 56-5-5020. "Plainly audible" includes detection of rhythmic, bass-reverberating sound, beat or cadence. § 132.03(G) exempts, among others, emergency warning devices, emergency work, permitted special events and parades, public roadway and public works construction, lawn care and agricultural field equipment during business hours 7:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m., garage machinery during the same hours, aircraft and airport operations, and testing of emergency signalling systems not exceeding 15 minutes. § 132.03(H): fine of not more than $500 and/or imprisonment not more than 30 days, with each day a separate offense, and no penalty exceeding the state-law penalty for similar offenses. Verified 2026-09-04.