10 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 2 cities in Kent County, Michigan.
Verified from official government sources
Kent County itself sets no residential quiet hours; your city or township does. Grand Rapids, the county seat, bars using any musical instrument or device in a public way or public place before 7:00 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m.
Grand Rapids Code of Ordinances Sec. 9.63(2)
No person shall use or perform any hand organ or other musical instrument or device, in any public way or public place of the City before 7:00 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m. of any day.
Kent County sets no countywide construction-hours limit; your city or township does. Grand Rapids bars using pile drivers, shovels, hammers, hoists, tractors, rollers and similar building equipment between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. within 600 feet of a residence or hospital.
Grand Rapids Code of Ordinances Sec. 9.63(4)
No person shall use any pile driver, shovel, hammer, derrick, hoist, tractor, roller or any other mechanical apparatus in building or construction operations between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. except for work on essential services, within six hundred (600) feet of a residence or hospital.
Grand Rapids' Noise Control Ordinance does not itself list barking dogs; persistent barking is treated as a general noise disturbance and under local animal ordinances. Kent County Animal Control enforces the state Dog Law, but nuisance-barking complaints go to your city or township.
Kent County sets no leaf-blower rule; your city or township does. Grand Rapids' Noise Control Ordinance regulates powered equipment intended for repetitive residential use, such as lawn mowers and small yard tools, by manufacturing-date decibel limits rather than fixed use hours.
Kent County does not regulate amplified music on private property; your city or township does. Grand Rapids prohibits amplified sound and other noise in or near a public way when loudly audible, and bars musical devices in public places before 7:00 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m.
Grand Rapids Code of Ordinances Sec. 9.63(1)
No person shall make, or cause, permit or allow to be made, upon a public way, or in such close proximity to a public way as to be distinctly and loudly audible upon such public way, any noise of any kind by ... radio, phonograph, sound amplifying or other similar electronic device.
Kent County does not regulate aircraft-in-flight noise; airspace and aircraft noise are governed by the FAA. The county operates Gerald R. Ford International Airport, and Grand Rapids' local rules address only helicopter landings and takeoffs on the ground.
Kent County sets no industrial-noise limit; your city or township does through zoning. In Grand Rapids' light-industrial districts, sound at the boundary of a residence, business, or commercial district may not exceed the ordinance's octave-band decibel limits.
Grand Rapids Code of Ordinances Sec. 9.63(11)
In I-1 Light Industrial Zoning Districts and PID, Planned Industrial Districts, at no point on the boundary of a Residence, Business, or Commercial district shall the sound pressure level of any individual operation or plant ... exceed the decibel levels in the designated octave bands shown below.
Kent County sets no countywide decibel limit; your city or township does. Grand Rapids uses octave-band and A-weighted sound-pressure limits along zoning-district boundaries, with nighttime (10 p.m.-7 a.m.) limits 7 dB lower than daytime steady-noise limits.
Grand Rapids Code of Ordinances Sec. 9.63(11)
Maximum nighttime sound pressure levels (10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.) are to be 7 (db) lower than the values shown for daytime steady noise for each octave band center frequency.
Kent County does not regulate outdoor music at homes or venues; your city or township does. Grand Rapids bars using any musical instrument or device in a public way or public place before 7:00 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m., and limits loudly audible amplified sound.
Grand Rapids Code of Ordinances Sec. 9.63(2)
No person shall use or perform any hand organ or other musical instrument or device, in any public way or public place of the City before 7:00 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m. of any day.
Michigan law requires every motor vehicle, including motorcycles and mopeds, to have a working muffler that prevents excessive or unusual noise, and bans muffler cutouts and bypasses. This statute (MCL 257.707) applies statewide across all of Kent County.
MCL 257.707(1)
A motor vehicle, including a motorcycle or moped, shall at all times be equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise and annoying smoke. A person shall not remove, destroy, or damage any of the baffles contained in the muffler.
2 cities in Kent County have their own noise ordinances rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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