Quiet hours in Polk County, IA — also called the noise ordinance, nighttime noise rules, or residential quiet time — define the hours during which excessive noise is prohibited.
Unincorporated Polk County has no countywide decibel-based quiet-hours ordinance. Noise is handled as a nuisance and, for zoned uses, must not be excessive at the lot line. Inside Des Moines, Ankeny, or other cities, the city's noise ordinance and its nighttime quiet hours apply.
The Polk County Zoning Ordinance regulates noise as a lot-line performance standard rather than by fixed hours: for public and utility uses it requires that no noise be excessive at the property boundary. The county's Health Nuisance Regulation lets the county abate an offensive trade or activity as a nuisance. There is a separate Polk County Noise Ordinance administered by Planning & Zoning that governs sound permits for events. If your address is inside an incorporated city, that city's quiet-hours rule (commonly 10 p.m.-7 a.m.) controls, not the county.
Zoning violations are misdemeanors abatable under Chapter 2 of the Polk County Code; nuisances may be abated by administrative order or civil action with costs and civil penalties assessed against the property.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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See how Polk County's quiet hours rules stack up against other locations.
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