Quiet hours in Portland, ME — also called the noise ordinance, nighttime noise rules, or residential quiet time — define the hours during which excessive noise is prohibited.
Portland's Code does not set fixed numeric quiet hours but prohibits loud, unnecessary noise that disturbs neighboring inhabitants 24/7 under Sec. 17-17(c). Most enforcement happens at night, and the loading of scrap metal is specifically barred between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. under Sec. 17-19. State disorderly-conduct law (17-A M.R.S. Sec. 501-A) backs up the local rule.
Portland City Code Sec. 17-17(c) (Chapter 17, Offenses Against Public Peace) prohibits any person, in, on, or adjacent to streets, ways, or public places, from making 'any loud, unnecessary or unusual noises which shall either annoy, disturb, injure or endanger the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of others.' The ordinance enumerates radios, musical instruments, phonographs, loudspeakers, amplifiers, horns, yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling, and singing as examples — but the list is non-exclusive. Unlike many Maine cities, Portland does NOT codify a fixed 10pm-7am 'quiet hours' window for general residential noise (the 10pm cutoff applies to the separate scrap-metal ordinance at Sec. 17-19 and to construction starts under Sec. 17-18). Police rely on the 'disturb the peace, quiet and comfort of neighboring inhabitants' standard, which they apply most strictly at night. State law (17-A M.R.S. Sec. 501-A) makes loud unreasonable noise a Class E disorderly-conduct crime when it continues after a police order to stop in a private place, providing a criminal backstop when civil enforcement fails.
Sec. 17-17(d): minimum fine of $100 for a first offense, $300 for a second offense, and $500 for each subsequent offense, plus the city is entitled to attorneys' fees and costs of prosecution if it prevails. Repeat violators of entertainment-licensed establishments trigger Sound Oversight Committee review (2+ complaints in 7 days, or 5+ in 30 days). State disorderly-conduct charge under 17-A M.R.S. Sec. 501-A is a Class E crime (up to 6 months jail, $1,000 fine) for refusing a police order to cease noise in a private place.
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