Montgomery, AL Noise from Specific Sources: Bar & Nightclub Noise (2026)

The prohibition sits in chapter 18, article IV, division 2, the city's noise division. Sec. 18-171 explains the division exists because loud, raucous, or disturbing noise unusual for its time, place, and use harms the health, comfort, and safety of Montgomery residents. Sec. 18-175(a) then bars the special events department's noise permit from covering any act already prohibited elsewhere in section 18-175, which means a bar cannot obtain a permit to legally exceed the 25-foot audibility line for sound bleeding from its building into a residence, business, multifamily unit, or public place under subsection (c).

The standard does not require a decibel meter: Sec. 18-174(a)(2), in the same division, defines audibility by the ordinary auditory senses, so words need not be understood and bass reverberations alone count. A separate subsection, 18-175(d), sets a 50-foot audibility line specifically for indoor firing ranges, showing the city calibrates the distance by source. Enforcement runs through the Montgomery Police Department, which can cite an operator once an officer standing 25 feet from the property line can plainly hear the sound. Sec. 00, and each day the noise continues is a new, separate offense, so a nightclub that keeps running the same system faces repeated charges.