Royal Oak Township, MI Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

The limits sit in the performance standards of the zoning chapter, § 32-791(b)(5), and they are written from the point of view of the receiving district, not the source. Sound is measured at or within the property boundary of the district that receives it. The table has five lines: residential at 55 dB(A) from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and 50 dB(A) from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., commercial not noise sensitive at 65 dB(A) day and night, commercial noise sensitive at 55 dB(A) day and night, and industrial at 70 dB(A) day and night. A noise sensitive zone is an area with activities such as schools, libraries, churches, hospitals and nursing homes.

Two corrections cut the numbers further. A pure tone, meaning a sound distinctly heard as a single pitch, and an atypical impulsive or impact-type sound each lower the limit by five dB(A) where the receiving district is residential or commercial noise sensitive. The code names explosions, drop forge impacts and discharge of firearms as impulsive sources. Where the receiving district is a planned development, the standard follows the most noise sensitive use inside it.

The same subsection stacks time-of-day rules on top of the decibel table. Loading and unloading is prohibited between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. when it causes a noise disturbance across a residential district boundary or within a noise sensitive zone. Construction, drilling and demolition tools are barred between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. on weekdays, and at any time on Sundays or holidays, on the same condition, except emergency work of public service utilities. Lawn care and house maintenance between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. is exempt, as are snow plowing, street sweeping, church bells and emergency alerts.

Under § 32-791(c), no new or substantially modified structure is approved unless the owner or developer shows that the finished structure and its activities will meet these standards at all times of full-scale operation.