Bowling Green, KY Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

Sec. 9-3.04 of the Bowling Green Code of Ordinances lists the defenses to a noise prosecution under Chapter 9's general 'excessive or unreasonably loud noise' standard in Sec. 9-3.03(a). Subsection c. exempts any domestic power equipment operated on a residential premise, but only between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. Sec. 9-3.02 defines 'domestic power equipment' as any equipment or device rated at five horsepower or less used for home or building repairs or grounds maintenance, covering typical mowers, trimmers, blowers and similar residential tools. Outside the 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. window, the exemption does not apply, so running that equipment late at night or before 7 a.m. is not automatically protected and can be prosecuted as unreasonably loud noise under Sec.

9-3.03(a) if it disturbs a neighbor's comfort, health, peace or repose considering the time, proximity to sleeping areas and duration. The Chapter otherwise exempts commercial and industrial power equipment used in the ordinary course of business, and equipment used on industrially zoned property, with no fixed hourly window at all, so the 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. clock is specific to residential yard and repair equipment rather than a citywide curfew on every noise source. Enforcement runs through Bowling Green Police Department response to complaints, and Chapter 9's Sec. 9-5 penalty of up to $250 per day applies once the equipment falls outside its exemption.