Palm Beach Gardens, FL Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Section 14-6, adopted by Ordinance No. 17-1997 on November 20, 1997, treats habitual barking, whining, or howling the same as an animal that runs at large, damages property, or otherwise disturbs the comfort, repose, or peace of city residents: all of it is declared a public nuisance under subsection (a). The section does not set a decibel limit or a fixed number of minutes of barking; instead the standard is whether the noise causes serious annoyance to a neighboring residence or interferes with the reasonable use and enjoyment of another person's property, which the code inspector assesses from a resident's complaint and any documentation, such as a log of dates and times.

Once the city serves written notice that a nuisance is being maintained, subsection (b) gives the dog or cat's owner, keeper, or the person maintaining the animal on their premises exactly 48 hours to abate it, a much shorter window than the standard code-enforcement correction period. This nuisance provision sits apart from the noise standards in Chapter 34, Article III (loudspeakers, construction equipment, and general noise), which govern mechanical and human-caused noise rather than animals. Subsection (c) preserves the city's ability to go beyond the special magistrate process and file a civil action in circuit court to prevent, restrain, or abate a continuing nuisance animal, typically reserved for cases where administrative fines have not stopped the noise.