Wellington, FL Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

Section 13-7(C) of Wellington's Code of Ordinances prohibits using or operating any loud speaker, loud speaker system, sound amplifier, radio, television, phonograph, musical instrument or other similar device within or adjacent to inhabited residential land when the sound is plainly audible across the property line of that residential land, and it applies at any time, not just at night. Unlike the construction and lawn-equipment rules in the same section, this prohibition carries no daytime safe harbor: a backyard party running a speaker loud enough to cross the property line into a neighbor's yard at 2:00 p.m. on a Saturday is treated the same as one running at midnight.

The section carves out one category of exception: it does not apply to special events such as parades, festivals or sporting events, which the Village authorizes separately, but it explicitly does apply to lounges, restaurants and nightclubs, meaning a commercial venue's outdoor speakers or live music are held to the same plainly-audible line as a residential backyard. Section 13-6 exempts certain other noise sources altogether, including non-amplified crowd noise at sporting events and golf course maintenance equipment run between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., but amplified sound and sound amplifiers get no such blanket exemption.

'Plainly audible' itself is defined in Section 13-5 as a sound clearly heard by a person of normal sensibilities using only unaided hearing, at a volume above normal conversation, which for music also includes a detectable bass beat or cadence.