Gaston County, NC Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Section 8-2 supplements the general disturbance standard of section 8-1 with an objective decibel table for use when a noise complaint is contested. Subsection (a) first lists twelve factors an officer or hearing body must weigh, including the volume and intensity of the noise, whether it is usual or unusual for the area, whether it is natural or unnatural in origin, the level of background noise already present, proximity to residential sleeping facilities, the zoning and density of the surrounding area, the time of day or night, duration, and whether the noise is recurrent, intermittent or constant.

Subsection (b) then reproduces Table I, Limiting Noise Levels for Use Districts, which sets a maximum permissible sound pressure level in decibels for eight octave bands, from below 75 cycles per second up to above 4,800 cycles per second, with separate columns for residential, commercial and manufacturing use districts. Residential limits run from 65 decibels at the lowest frequency band down to 40 decibels above 4,800 cycles per second, while manufacturing districts are allowed up to 80 decibels at the low end and 46 at the high end, reflecting that industrial areas tolerate more low-frequency rumble.

Table II then lets the county adjust those base numbers for how the noise behaves over time: a source running less than 20 percent of an hour gets a plus-five correction, less than five percent gets plus ten, and less than one percent gets plus fifteen, while impulsive noise like hammering gets a minus-five correction and periodic humming or screeching also gets minus five, before the corrected figure is compared against the Table I ceiling for that district.