Albemarle County, VA Noise from Specific Sources: Generator Noise (2026)

County Code § 7-106(E) exempts sound produced in the performance of "emergency operations," a term that expressly includes sound produced by power generators during power outages and other emergency situations, alongside audible signal devices used as fire, collision or danger warnings. Separately, § 7-106(G) exempts sound produced by the normal use of home appliances, listing generators by name alongside air conditioners, heat pumps, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, dryers and dishwashers, so long as the appliance is in good repair. Read together, the two exemptions cover a generator running during a storm-related power outage and a generator running for routine home backup use, provided it is properly maintained; a generator in poor repair, producing excessive sound beyond normal operation, would fall outside the § 7-106(G) exemption's "good repair" condition and could be evaluated under the general specific-acts rule in § 7-105 or the 15 dBA ambient-rise standard in § 7-104.

Neither exemption is limited by time of day, distance or district, unlike the yard-maintenance and construction provisions elsewhere in the article. The Chief of Police is the Board of Supervisors' designated agent for administering and enforcing the noise article under § 7-101, with Community Development staff assisting as needed.