Hanover County, VA Noise from Specific Sources: Bar & Nightclub Noise (2026)

Section 16-9 of chapter 16 targets any loudspeaker or other sound-producing device operated inside a place of public entertainment or other place of public assembly, the category that covers Hanover County bars, nightclubs, banquet halls and similar venues outside the Town of Ashland. The rule is not a blanket sound cap; it is triggered only where the device produces a sound pressure level of ninety decibels, db(a), or greater at any point normally occupied by a person, meaning the dance floor or bar area, not just at the property line.

' Without that posted signage, operating sound equipment above ninety db(a) in an assembly space is itself the violation. The section works alongside section 16-10's zoning-district decibel table, which measures noise crossing onto neighboring property, but section 16-9 measures sound where patrons stand inside the venue itself. Because section 16-9 is one of the three sections, 16-8, 16-9 and 16-10, that section 16-5 singles out for criminal enforcement, a bar or nightclub operator who ignores the ninety-decibel and signage requirement faces the same criminal exposure as someone violating the vehicle-noise or zoning decibel rules.