Queen Anne's County, MD Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

The only numeric sound level printed in the zoning chapter sits in § 18:1-95T, the special events conditional use. Its purpose clause sets criteria and requirements for holding special events at bed-and-breakfasts, on farms, and on single-family residential properties in the County in the Agricultural (AG) and Countryside (CS) Zones. Criterion (2)(g) then provides that outdoor amplified music shall not exceed 65 dB (decibel) level as measured from adjacent properties or residences. The measurement point is the neighbor's side, not the stage or the event site.

The subsection carries a printed cross-reference quirk: criterion (g) points to § 18:1-95T(2)(c), which is the separate rule that an event be located at least 250 feet from the nearest residence on adjacent property. Both conditions apply to the event.

The 65 dB cap sits beside other neighbor protections in the same list. The event must be on a parcel of land at least 20 acres in area. Lighting must be installed and maintained to confine direct light beams to the lighted property and away from nearby properties and the vision of passing motorists. All parking must be on-site in designated areas as far removed from nearby residences as possible. Signage is limited to one nonilluminated nameplate not exceeding eight square feet in area. The Board of Appeals determines the hours during which special events occur and, outside the Resource Conservation Area, the annual number of events.

The event also needs a special events zoning certificate, issued annually pursuant to § 18:1-138, in addition to the other conditional use requirements in Chapter 18:1, Part 5, Article XVII.

A different amplified-music rule covers short-term residential rentals in § 18:1-58J: outdoor amplified music shall be discontinued at 8:00 p.m., and guests who are not overnight occupants must vacate by 11:00 p.m. That rule prints a time, not a decibel figure.