Decatur, AL Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

Decatur regulates amplified sound by permit rather than by a printed decibel table. Section 16-9 says it shall be unlawful for any person within the city or its police jurisdiction who has not first obtained a permit from the mayor to speak through any horn, megaphone, sound box or amplifier, or to play any phonograph, radio or other mechanical or electrical device where the sound is amplified. The permit reaches beyond the corporate limits, because the police jurisdiction is named alongside the city. The section prints no fee, hours, distance or decibel standard for the mayor's permit.

There is one exemption. The section does not restrict the playing of radios, phonographs or musical instruments by any person for the amusement, instruction or education of himself, members of his family or guests. A backyard gathering with family and guests therefore falls outside § 16-9, while a paid event with a sound system does not.

A second layer sits in § 16-9.1, which adopts the SBCCI Standard for Sound Control SSTD8-87 by reference under Code of Ala. 1975, § 11-45-8. Decatur designates the chief of police or his designee as the sound control official, with the building director available to assist. A person, firm or corporation cannot put into operation any sound producing source that exceeds the noise limitations in the standard without first obtaining a permit from the sound control official. The request must be submitted no later than three business days before the source starts operating, and the chief of police can waive the three-day period if he determines the waiver is necessary, appropriate and in the public's best interests. Appeals and claims that the standard does not apply to a circumstance go to the Board of Appeals for the Construction Industries, since the standard's own Board of Sound Control was deleted.