Killeen, TX Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

Sec. and defines a noise nuisance broadly as any sound that disturbs a reasonable person's comfort or endangers health, safety or property. Sec. 16-77 lays out four restrictions: no noise over the article's decibel limits, no noise or instrument play plainly audible to a nearby business or residence during nighttime, no vibration above a perceptible threshold at the property line, and no noise nuisance under the general catch-all standard, all of which apply around the clock but the nighttime audibility rule in subsection (b) is Killeen's dedicated quiet-hours trigger.

Sec. 16-79 backs it with a numeric ceiling: 50 A-weighted decibels or 3 decibels over ambient, whichever is higher, measured at the property line. Sec. 16-80 carves out emergency vehicles, moving-vehicle noise, government functions, permitted parades and city-sponsored outdoor events, and any activity, like construction, that genuinely cannot be done another way; anyone else facing hardship can apply to the city manager for a written relief permit and appeal a denial to the city council within ten calendar days. Sec. 16-81 identifies who is liable at a private residence during quiet hours: any adult resident present, or an adult guest able to control the noise if no resident is present, and lets a peace officer arrest or cite based on either a complainant's own perception or a decibel-meter reading.