Alpharetta, GA Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Section 26-115 of the Code of Ordinances lists nine categories of sound exempt from the property-line decibel limits set in section 26-114(a), which otherwise cap noise at 60 dBA by day and 55 dBA at night at a residential property line. Automobile alarms are the third exemption: a car alarm is excused from the standard measurement, but only 'provided such alarm shall terminate its operation within five minutes of its activation if the sound is uninterrupted or ten minutes if the sound is intermittent.' The same five-minute or ten-minute cutoff applies to exterior burglar alarms on buildings under the preceding exemption, section 26-115(b)(2), so Alpharetta treats vehicle and building alarms identically.

If a car alarm keeps sounding past those windows, the exemption no longer applies and the alarm becomes an ordinary noise disturbance subject to the general limits and citation process. Alpharetta police officers, trained on a sound level meter per section 26-117(b), measure disputed noise at or within the property line of the affected property. There is no separate false-alarm registration fee for private vehicle alarms in this chapter; the rule is purely a duration cutoff tied to the general noise article that also governs bar noise, construction, and landscaping equipment in the surrounding sections 26-113 through 26-119.