Battle Creek, MI Public Conduct: Loud Party Ordinance (2026)

Section 618.10, titled Disorderly House, is the host-liability rule in Battle Creek. It is a single sentence: no person shall permit or suffer any place occupied or controlled by him or her to be a resort of noisy, boisterous or disorderly persons. The operative words are occupied or controlled, so the person answerable is whoever holds the premises, and the text does not require that the host personally made any of the noise.

The City Commission supplies definitions in Section 618.01 that show what disorder means in Chapter 618. Subsection (e) defines a public nuisance as a gathering of persons on public or private premises whose conduct results, on neighboring property, in conditions such as public drinking where it is unlawful, public urination or defecation, the unlawful deposit of trash or litter, destruction of property, traffic or parking that obstructs the free flow of traffic or interferes with emergency services, and loud noise which disturbs the comfort, quiet or repose of the neighborhood. Subsection (d) defines a public disturbance as any act causing an interruption of the public peace and quiet.

Sound itself is regulated by Section 652.07. Playing a radio, speaker or musical instrument so that it is plainly audible at a distance of twenty-five feet between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., or fifty feet between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., is prima-facie evidence of a violation. Yelling, shouting or singing on the public streets between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. is also listed, as is any such noise at any time that annoys or disturbs persons in a dwelling.

Section 618.09 is narrower: it covers loud or boisterous conduct in a public place. Section 618.29 lets a police officer set up a police line or safety zone around a public disturbance or public nuisance, and no person shall cross it or remain in it after being requested to leave.