Chapel Hill, NC Noise from Specific Sources: Generator Noise (2026)

Section 11-39.1(a)(9) of the Noise Control Code lists 'power equipment including but not limited to power tools, generators, and garden equipment' among the enumerated nuisance noises, reaching portable and standby generators as well as other motorized equipment. As with every item on the § 11-39.1(a) list, generator noise is only a citable nuisance when it is unreasonably loud and interferes seriously with a neighboring resident's reasonable use of their property, particularly during nighttime, and steady-state sources that stay within the § 11-39 decibel tables, 50 dBA daytime and 45 dBA nighttime at a residential boundary, are not treated as nuisances.

Several § 11-40 exceptions can still apply to a generator running during a real emergency: subsection (l) exempts emergency work necessary to maintain public safety or restore property, persons or infrastructure following an accident or natural disaster, and subsection (m) exempts noise from government services maintaining public infrastructure, so backup power used during a storm-related outage response is treated differently from ordinary use. Before officers cite a generator-noise complaint under § 11-42(b), the town generally needs reports from two different complainants at two different locations at least twenty minutes apart, unless the noise is so loud that any reasonable person would call it a nuisance.