Cherokee County, SC Code Violation Reporting: How to Report (2026)

Cherokee County Code § 15-67, Enforcement procedures, is the county's printed complaint route for noise in unincorporated Cherokee County, South Carolina. Under subsection (a), all law enforcement officers in the ordinary course of their duties have authority to advise persons of the provisions and request compliance without having received a complaint from any member of the public. Advice is not a charge, though: no charge is made against any person unless a complaint is made to law enforcement and the person has first been provided an opportunity to abate the offending noise without penalty.

The complaint then decides whether a violation exists. If the violation continues or recurs within a twenty-four (24) hour period, the person is guilty of a violation of the article. The same result follows if the same person has been provided an opportunity two (2) or more times within the previous one hundred eighty (180) days to abate a noise at the same location and continues to make or allow the noise.

Subsection (b) sets the evidence a complainant needs. The complaints of three (3) or more persons, or of one (1) or more persons combined with the complaint of a law enforcement officer, are prima facie evidence that regulated sound was produced. Subsection (c) lowers that for sound amplifying devices in motor vehicles: the complaint of one (1) law enforcement officer is prima facie evidence. Subsection (d) makes a violation a misdemeanor subject to the jurisdiction of the Magistrate's Court.

When an officer judges a complaint, § 15-66 lists what to weigh: the volume and intensity of the noise, whether its nature is usual or unusual, whether its origin is natural or unnatural, the type and intensity of ambient noise, and the nature and character of the area where the noise is heard. A burglar alarm system with an audible warning that has no shut-off within twenty (20) minutes is a nuisance under § 15-64(2), and each activation that continues beyond twenty (20) minutes is a separate offense.

Building code problems run on a different track. Under § 6-14 the building official has authority to issue stop work orders, revoke permits and seek injunctive orders, and a civil fine of not more than two hundred dollars ($200.00) applies only after the violator has been given notice and reasonable time to correct.