Bozeman, MT Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

Article 6 of Chapter 16 of the Bozeman Municipal Code controls all sound originating within the jurisdictional limits of the city (§ 16.06.030). The City Commission did not print one citywide quiet hour. It attached seasonal windows to specific activities, and § 16.06.070 is where they sit. For outdoor gatherings, public dances, shows, sporting events and similar outdoor events, the event is authorized if the organizers obtain any permit required by chapter 34, article 8. If no permit is required, the gathering is authorized from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. from October 1 through March 30 and from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. from April 1 through September 30. The same two windows govern non-emergency signaling devices such as back-up beepers and the operation of snow blowers, leaf blowers and similar equipment. Loading and unloading of containers starts an hour earlier, at 5:00 a.m., but ends at the same 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. limits.

The windows are exceptions to the residential-area prohibitions in § 16.06.060, which apply in areas zoned R-1, R-2, R-3, R-4, R-O, RMH, R-S or PLI. They do not switch off the citywide rule in § 16.06.050, which bars amplified sound, barking animals and any excessive or unusually loud noise that disturbs the quiet, comfort or repose of a normally sensitive and reasonable person. Subsection B of § 16.06.070 adds that nothing in the exception section allows activity prohibited under chapter 38. Activities on public playgrounds and public or private school grounds, and public work in the right-of-way that is reasonably necessary for the public benefit, are exempt without a clock window (§ 16.06.070.A.5 and A.6). Emergency work is exempt under § 16.06.080. Construction has its own overnight limit of 60dB(A) between 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. under § 16.06.090.