Barrow County, GA Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

or at any time or place so as to unreasonably disturb the quiet, comfort or repose of reasonable persons of ordinary sensibilities. The nighttime window is not just a factor for a court to weigh; the subsection creates a presumption, so sound in this category plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet from the origin shall be presumed to be in violation once it occurs inside that window. period recurs across § 58-4(b): the same clock window presumes a violation for radios and phonographs under § 58-4(b)(2), for pile drivers and similar heavy equipment under § 58-4(b)(8), and effectively bookends the weekday construction hours in § 58-4(b)(6).

Outside that window, the yelling-and-shouting rule still applies at any time or place if the noise is unreasonable, so daytime shouting is not automatically exempt, it simply loses the automatic 50-foot presumption and requires the county to show the disturbance was unreasonable on the facts. A resident who receives a variance under § 58-4(d), for a permitted late-night gathering for example, is shielded from this presumption for the conditions the board of commissioners attaches, but any special event, including carnivals, festivals, concerts or rallies, needs that variance to be exempted from § 58-4 at all under § 58-4(d)(10).