Putnam County, FL Noise from Specific Sources: Bar & Nightclub Noise (2026)

Putnam County has no ordinance written specifically for bars or nightclubs; amplified sound from any commercial establishment in unincorporated Putnam County, including a bar or club playing music, falls under Chapter 18, Article VII's Amplified Sound Ordinance and its Section 18-200 Table 1 of maximum allowable amplified sound levels. For property that is not a noise-sensitive use, such as the area around a bar or the neighboring property complaining about it, the table allows the loudest levels of the week on Friday and Saturday: 75 dB(A-weighted) or 80 dB(C-weighted), measured at the property line of the property suffering the disturbance, from 8:01 a.m. until 11:30 p.m.

That weekend allowance then drops to 65 dB(A-wt)/70 dB(C-wt) overnight, from 11:31 p.m. Saturday to 8:00 a.m. Sunday. Measurements use an integrating-averaging sound level meter under Section 18-201, taken by someone trained in a county-approved noise measurement program, over a period of at least five minutes at the complaining property's line. Section 18-203 gives enforcement responsibility to the noise control officer, defined in Section 18-199 as the sheriff, a code enforcement officer or another person the sheriff or Board of County Commissioners designates, who investigates on a complaint, which may be anonymous, or on personal audible observation, making bar and nightclub noise complaints in unincorporated Putnam County a Sheriff's Office matter rather than a licensing issue.