Granville County, NC Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

Granville County's Unnecessary Noise ordinance draws its clearest nighttime line around specific noise sources rather than a blanket residential curfew. Code § 26-31(b)(17), adopted by Ord. of 10-4-1993, makes it a violation to conduct, operate or maintain any garage or filling station in any residential district so as to cause loud or offensive noises to be emitted between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Subsection (b)(19) uses the identical 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. window for a different source, banning playing or permitting to be played any piccolo, jukebox, or other musical mechanical slot machine during those hours.

Together the two clauses give unincorporated Granville County a defined nighttime quiet period for automotive-service noise and coin-operated music machines, even though the ordinance does not repeat that same 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. window as a general catch-all for every kind of noise; other clauses in § 26-31, such as the animal-noise and radio provisions, apply at any hour instead. Because neither subsection carries its own penalty, enforcement runs through the general civil-penalty procedure at Code § 1-6: a warning citation issues first, with 15 days to correct the noise, and a civil penalty citation follows if it continues, with the county able to sue for the penalty as a debt after that.

Willfully refusing to pay a civil penalty already imposed is a separate misdemeanor under § 1-6(c) and G.S. 14-4, carrying up to a $500.00 fine or 30 days in jail, and each night the violation recurs counts separately.