Kenosha County, WI Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

040(e) then sets the actual limits: the maximum sound pressure level any use or facility (other than transportation facilities or temporary construction work) may radiate in each standard octave band, measured with a Sound Level Meter and Octave Band Analyzer meeting American Standards Association specifications. Table I caps the 20-75 cycle band at 65 decibels, 75-150 at 55, 150-300 at 50, 300-600 at 45, 600-1200 and 1200-2400 at 40, and everything above 2,400 cycles at 35 decibels. Table II then adjusts those caps: a use limited to daytime operation gets a 5-decibel allowance, a noise source running less than 20 percent of any hour gets 5 decibels and less than 5 percent gets 10, impulsive noise such as hammering is corrected down 5 decibels, periodic noise like a hum or screech is corrected down 5 decibels, and property in an M-District more than 200 feet from any R-District gets a 10-decibel allowance.

020(d) any violation found must be terminated within 30 days of notice or it becomes a new violation for each day it continues; nonconforming uses that predate the ordinance get up to 180 days to conform. Like the rest of Chapter 12, this decibel standard governs only unincorporated towns operating under county zoning, not the incorporated City of Kenosha, City of Lake Geneva, or the county's villages.