York County, PA Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

Section 75-25 of the York County Code, adopted as part of the Parks and Recreation Rules and Regulations on May 6, 2020 by Ordinance No. 2020-01, splits sound equipment into two separate prohibitions. Subsection A is an unqualified ban: no person may use a loudspeaker, public address system or amplifier anywhere within the park system, with no volume threshold and no annoyance test to satisfy before a Ranger can act. Subsection B covers radios, phonographs, tape recorders, televisions and stereo tape players; those devices are legal to bring into a park, but it becomes a violation the moment one is played 'in a loud or boisterous manner which tends to disturb or annoy any visitor,' a standard turning on effect rather than a decibel reading.

A(2), which lists causing or creating a noise likely to annoy or disturb a reasonable person of normal sensitivities among the disorderly-conduct violations covered elsewhere in the same article, so a Ranger responding to a loud-radio complaint has two overlapping sections to cite. A-B, and the permit process, not § 75-25 itself, is where volume conditions or time limits for the event would be set. Park Rangers and any police officer with jurisdiction enforce § 75-25 under § 75-38. A violation is a summary offense under § 75-39A: a fine of not less than $75 and not more than $800, plus costs of prosecution and restitution for any damage, and up to 30 days in jail, or both.

Rangers may issue a nontraffic citation on view under § 75-39B, and the equipment itself can be confiscated under § 75-39I. All fines and restitution are paid to the County of York.