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

Sec. , and it limits the noise a wind energy system's owner may generate to 50 dBA during the day and 45 dBA at night at the outside wall of any nonparticipating residence or occupied community building. An owner must design the system to minimize noise at nearby buildings to the extent reasonably practicable and to comply with these limits under planned operating conditions. If a wind energy system produces a steady pure tone, such as a whine, whistle, screech, or hum, the owner must promptly take corrective action to permanently eliminate it, though this does not apply to sound produced under normal operation.

Compliance testing happens near the outside wall closest to the nearest turbine, or at an alternate wall the affected owner specifies, and once a complaint is filed the owner must test and, if needed, use operational curtailment of one or more turbines until the problem is permanently corrected. A nonparticipating property owner may waive these limits by written contract, and that waiver runs with the land as a recorded encumbrance under Wis. ch. 706 until the system is decommissioned. This chapter does not extend the 50/45 dBA limits to any other noise source, such as general residential nuisance noise or commercial equipment; those situations fall to the county's general nuisance and health-hazard provisions in Chapter 50 rather than a numeric decibel table.