Bowie, MD Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

Bowie's amplified-sound rule sits inside § 13-3.A, the City Council's list of noises already declared loud and unnecessary regardless of decibel reading. Clause (2) targets loudspeakers and amplifiers specifically: it is unlawful to use, operate or permit the operation of any radio receiving set, musical instrument, phonograph, loudspeaker, sound amplifier, tape recorder or similar device to produce or reproduce sound that advertises a commercial enterprise or attracts public attention to a property, building or structure. The ban applies at any hour, day or night, and the only carve-outs are sound authorized by the government or generated during a public emergency; there is no separate decibel threshold to clear first, so a business cannot cure a citation simply by turning the volume down if the purpose is still advertising or drawing a crowd.

The City Council attached a specific, escalating fine to this clause rather than leaving it to the general Chapter 1 penalty schedule: § 13-6.A(2) sets a $500 fine for a first violation of § 13-3.A(2) or (3) and $1,000 for each subsequent violation, above the amount that applies to most other § 13-3 clauses. Enforcement still runs through § 13-3.B, so a citation requires either a City code enforcement officer's direct observation of the amplified sound or a sworn, affidavit-form complaint from at least two witnesses in separate households who are each 18 or older and have personal knowledge of the violation.