Franklin, TN Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

The Franklin Municipal Code's Title 11 (Municipal Offenses), Chapter 4, Sec. 11-402 ('Unnecessary noise') and Sec. 11-403 ('Unnecessary noise standard') do not assign maximum dBA values at the property line for residential, commercial, or industrial districts during day or night. The City of Franklin Police Department's public guidance summarizes the standard as a prohibition on any noise that 'annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of others,' with a stricter reasonableness test 'especially between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.' for amplification equipment and live bands. The two measurable, enforceable noise distances on the books that apply in Franklin are: (1) Title 16, Ch. 5 Public Gathering and Expression Event ordinance - amplification 'cannot be heard 50 feet away from the amplification device' (unless a Special Event / Public Gathering permit grants otherwise); and (2) Tennessee Code Annotated 55-8-193 - 'no person shall operate or permit the operation of any sound amplification system from a motor vehicle that is plainly audible from 50 or more feet away from the vehicle' (Class C misdemeanor, enforced statewide). TCA 55-9-202 also requires all vehicles to have mufflers 'in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise.' For all other noise contexts - residential lawn equipment, HVAC condensers, swimming-pool equipment, generators, idling trucks, barking dogs, party noise - Franklin Police rely on the Sec. 11-402 reasonableness standard, not a sound-meter reading. The 'common Tennessee model' (10 p.m. - 7 a.m. quiet hours with 55-65 dBA residential / 70-75 dBA commercial caps) used by some cities such as Knoxville has NOT been adopted in Franklin.