Owensboro, KY Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Owensboro's noise-control ordinance, Sec. 17-8, makes it unlawful to make or permit excessive or unreasonably loud noise that disturbs persons of ordinary sensibilities in any residential zone in the city, Sec. 17-8(a). Subsection (c) lists specific exceptions to that ban, and the first is any siren, whistle, horn or bell lawfully used by emergency vehicles, or any other alarm system, including properly operating vehicle alarms, used as a warning of danger or the presence of public safety officials acting within their authority. The word properly operating matters: the exemption protects an alarm doing its job, not one malfunctioning or sounding without an actual warning purpose.

A car alarm that keeps triggering for no reason can fall back under the general prohibition in Sec. 17-8(a) because it is no longer serving as a warning of danger. The ordinance, enacted by Ord. No. 64-99 in 1999 and replacing the prior 1955-code noise section, also exempts festivals, domestic and commercial power equipment, and city service vehicles, but none of those apply to a private vehicle alarm the way subsection (c)(1) does. The Owensboro Police Department enforces Sec. 17-8 citywide, and the city manager can also grant special noise variances under subsection (d) for unrelated temporary activities, a separate process from the alarm exception.