Charlotte, NC Noise from Specific Sources: Generator Noise (2026)

F regulates mechanical equipment tied to a structure's operation, and it specifically names personal electrical generators, alongside HVAC equipment and pool pumps and filters, as an example covered by the rule; window-mounted or through-the-wall air conditioners are excluded. For single-family, duplex, triplex, and quadraplex dwellings, ground-mounted or wall-mounted mechanical equipment, which includes a standby generator, cannot be located in the established setback along a frontage at all, and it may encroach into a required side or rear setback by no more than 50% of that setback's required width.

c; the screen must be at least as tall as the equipment, at most one foot taller, and any gate must stay closed except when accessing the unit. When such equipment sits in a side or rear setback and is visible from a frontage or from an abutting Neighborhood 1 property, it must be screened on three sides (two for wall-mounted units) by the same wall, fence, or shrub options. Roof-mounted mechanical equipment in any zoning district must be screened by an architectural element so it is not visible from an abutting frontage.