Mount Pleasant, SC Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Chapter 111 of the Mount Pleasant Code of Ordinances regulates 'alarm systems,' defined in Sec. 01 as equipment designed to signal illegal entry, fire, or a medical emergency at a building, home, structure or facility to which the Town Police or Fire Department is expected to respond. That chapter requires anyone running an alarm business or acting as an alarm agent to comply with state and town law (Secs. 03), sets equipment standards such as a 15-minute reset requirement and a ban on tones resembling emergency vehicles (Sec.

22), and lets the Communications Director, who is the Chief of Police, pursue penalties under Sec. 99 against any alarm user racking up more than ten false alarms in a calendar year (Sec. 30). But Sec. 04, titled 'Auto Alarms Exempted,' carves automobiles entirely out of that framework: the provisions of Chapter 111 simply do not apply to audible alarms affixed to automobiles. That means a car alarm sounding on a Mount Pleasant street is not subject to the false-alarm citation process, the alarm-business licensing rules, or the equipment standards that apply to home and business burglar and fire alarms.

The town's general nuisance chapter does not separately list vehicle alarms among regulated noise sources, so a resident bothered by a car alarm has no dedicated town ordinance to invoke against the vehicle owner or a passing car; the exemption in Sec. 04 leaves the subject to state law and to the vehicle owner's own equipment, not to a town permit or fine.