Southaven, MS Noise from Specific Sources: HVAC & Mechanical Noise (2026)

Southaven Code § 10-95 is the one provision in the noise chapter that names residential equipment. It makes it unlawful to operate residential fans, air conditioners, stationary pumps, stationary cooling towers, stationary compressors, or a similar mechanical device or any combination of them, installed in any manner so as to create noise that violates the standards of this chapter. The section sets no decibel figure of its own and no nighttime hours for an air conditioner.

The standards it points to are thin. Section 10-91 (exterior noise standards) and Section 10-92 (interior noise standards) were repealed by an amendment of 1-2-07 and now print as Reserved. The test that remains is Section 10-121: any loud, unnecessary or unusual noise that disturbs the peace and quiet of any location in the City of Southaven, or that causes discomfort or annoyance to any reasonable person of normal sensitiveness. Subsection 10-121(b) lists what is weighed: proximity to residential sleeping facilities, the nature and zoning of the area, the density of inhabitation, the time of day or night, the duration and tonal or musical content, whether the noise is continuous, recurrent or intermittent, and whether it comes from a commercial or noncommercial activity. The only decibel limit left in the chapter is seventy (70) dBA at the property boundary in Section 10-93(11), and it covers M-1 and M-2 industrial districts.

Enforcement is the responsibility of the chief of police or his designee under Section 10-141, so a complaint about a neighbor's compressor goes to the Southaven Police Department. The chapter defines ambient noise level as the composite of sounds from all sources at the location, excluding the alleged offensive noise, and Section 10-62 states the policy of assessing complaints of noise alleged to exceed the expected ambient noise for a particular area.