New Berlin, WI Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

New Berlin Code § 152-9 A regulates loudspeakers and other sound-amplifying equipment by cross-reference, stating that noise shall comply with the standards set forth in Chapter 275-60 of the Zoning Code and/or the Special Event Permit. That cross-referenced section, § 275-60 E, is the city's zoning performance standard for noise and sets two separate decibel tables measured by a sound-level meter with an octave-band filter. Table 275-60-2 applies only inside the M-2 General Industrial District and the Q-1 Quarrying and Extractive District, allowing sound as loud as 79 decibels in the 0-75 cycle-per-second band at the district boundary.

Table 275-60-3 governs every other district in the city, including the commercial and residential areas where amplified music is most likely to run, and caps sound measured at the property line at 72 decibels in the 0-75 cycle band, dropping through 67, 59, 52, 46 and 40 decibels in the middle frequency bands to just 32 decibels above 4,800 cycles per second. Section 275-60 E(3) adds that all noise must be muffled or controlled so it is not objectionable for its intermittence, duration, beat frequency, impulse character or shrillness, and sirens, whistles and bells serving a public purpose are exempt under E(4).

Because § 152-9 folds the Special Event Permit into the same sentence as the zoning standard, an event with an approved Special Event Permit can operate under permit-specific sound terms instead of the flat district limits, but everywhere else a loudspeaker or PA system pushing music above the applicable table is a code violation regardless of the time of day.