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

Sauk County's zoning code sets a numeric decibel standard in one specific context: nonmetallic mining. Sauk County Code § 7.060 governs mining sites covering more than one acre, mined for more than 24 months, or involving blasting for aggregate material, and subsection (3)(d) caps operational noise at 70 dBA as measured at the site's property line during the mine's hours of operation. The standard exempts back-up alarms on vehicles that are required by OSHA, recognizing that federally mandated safety equipment cannot be silenced to satisfy a local limit.

An operator must be able to verify compliance to the Zoning Administrator on written request, meaning the county can demand real measurement data rather than accept a general assurance. This limit sits inside a broader special-exception review by the Board of Adjustment, which also considers dust and vibration levels, buffer zones of at least 50 feet from a property line or 600 feet from an established building, and vegetative screening. Because the decibel cap is written specifically into the nonmetallic mining secondary standards, it does not extend to other land uses.

Sauk County has not adopted a general noise ordinance with numeric limits for residences, businesses, or public nuisance noise elsewhere in the chapters reviewed for this entry; any complaint about ordinary neighborhood noise falls outside Section 7.060 and would need to be evaluated under whatever public-nuisance or public-peace-and-order authority the county separately maintains.