Bowie, MD Noise from Specific Sources: Generator Noise (2026)

Chapter 13, Environmental Noise Control, generally bans loud or raucous noise and caps sound at the property line: 75 dBA for industrial land at any hour, 67 dBA daytime and 62 dBA nighttime for commercial land, and 60 dBA daytime and 50 dBA nighttime for residential land, per City Code § 13-2B, with nighttime defined at § 13-1 as 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Section 13-4 lists exemptions from the whole chapter, and Subsection G carves out household generators, but only for two purposes: use during an actual emergency, or routine testing and maintenance, and only between 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.

A generator run overnight for testing, or run for hours beyond the stated window, loses the exemption and falls under the general prohibitions in §§ 13-2 and 13-3, which bar loud engine or blower noise that disturbs neighbors. Enforcement runs through Bowie Code Compliance and the Bowie Police Department; a violation is a municipal infraction citable under § 13-6, tied to the general penalty and continuing-violation provisions of Chapter 1, § 1-6. Because generators are not separately fined under § 13-6, a citation for out-of-hours generator noise is charged as an ordinary Chapter 13 violation rather than under a generator-specific fine schedule.