Cowlitz County, WA Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Chapter 10.25 CCC treats audible alarms, including vehicle alarms, as an exempt sound category rather than a regulated nuisance. Section 10.25.050(A)(2) exempts 'sounds created by audible alarms, unless otherwise covered by Cowlitz County Code.' Paired with § 10.25.040(C), which states that 'no sound source specifically exempted from provisions of this chapter by CCC § 10.25.050 may be determined to be a public noise disturbance, to the extent that the particular source of the noise is exempted,' an alarm sounding on a parked vehicle cannot be cited as a public noise disturbance or public nuisance noise under this chapter.

The 'unless otherwise covered' clause is a real limit, though: it leaves the exemption open to being overridden by another, more specific CCC provision if one exists elsewhere in the code, and it does not exempt other vehicle sounds, such as an unmuffled exhaust, which § 10.25.040(A)(2) separately treats as a day-and-night public noise disturbance regardless of the hour. The exemption also does not reach the underlying nuisance of a malfunctioning or repeatedly triggered alarm if the disturbance is instead pursued as a public nuisance under state law or another county chapter rather than under Chapter 10.25's noise-specific rules.

The Sheriff, as the chapter's primary enforcement authority under § 10.25.060, cannot issue a Chapter 10.25 noise infraction for an audible alarm covered by this exemption.