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

Chapter 13.5 of the Fauquier County Code otherwise bars sound sources from exceeding 65 dBA in the daytime and 55 dBA at night at a neighboring property line under Sec. 13.5-3(a), and construction-type equipment is barred outside set hours under Sec. 13.5-3(e). Sec. 13.5-4(a) carves out a list of activities that are exempt from the entire chapter regardless of hour or volume, and item (12) places backup generator operation squarely in that list when the generator is running because of a power outage from a storm or other emergency.

The exemption is tied to the cause of operation: it covers emergency backup use, not routine or discretionary generator testing unrelated to an outage, which is not named in the list and would fall back under the general sound-level and time limits in Sec. 13.5-3. The county administrator's office is not given a permitting role over emergency generators under this chapter; the exemption applies automatically once the outage condition exists. Enforcement of the noise chapter generally runs through the county administrator, the county attorney's or commonwealth attorney's office, and the sheriff's office or its deputies and animal control officers under Sec. 13.5-5(c), and a private citizen can also seek a magistrate's summons for any provision of the chapter that is not itself exempted.