Jacksonville, NC Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Section 15-50, titled Pets, sits in Chapter 15's article on offenses against public peace, the same article that opens with the general noise prohibition in Sec. 15-28 against unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise. Sec. 15-50 targets animal owners specifically: keeping any animal or bird that, by frequent or long continued noise, disturbs the comfort and repose of any person in the vicinity is a violation of the noise article. The rule doesn't set a numeric duration or decibel reading, unlike the amplified-sound sections in the same article's other division, so enforcement turns on whether the noise is frequent or long continued and whether it genuinely disturbs a nearby person's comfort and repose.

A conviction is punished the same as every other offense in the article: a Class 3 misdemeanor, fined up to $500 under G.S. 14-4. A cross-reference in the code points to Chapter 4, Animals and Fowl, for the city's separate animal-control rules, meaning a chronic barking complaint can be pursued either as this noise-article misdemeanor or through Chapter 4's animal-control mechanisms. Nearby sections work alongside Sec. 15-50, including Sec. 15-51's quiet-zone rule for streets near schools, hospitals and courts, but Sec. 15-50 is the section that specifically names animals and birds as a noise source.