Pinellas County code enforcement and the county attorney's office on Thursday presented proposed updates to the county noise ordinance designed to clarify enforcement standards and expand tools for immediate response to transient, disruptive noise.

The changes matter to residents who report recurring loud-party, construction or landscaping complaints and to businesses that use outdoor amplified sound; staff said the revisions aim to reduce legal ambiguity that has led judges to dismiss some past cases. Jude Reason, housing official and code enforcement manager, told commissioners the revisions add required definitions for "itinerant or transient" noise and for "irreparable and irreversible" disturbances so enforcement staff and judges can more readily identify complaints that require immediate action.

Under the proposed updates staff said quiet hours remain 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday and all day Sunday; some separate ordinances (for example short-term rentals and some alcohol-serving venues) may have more restrictive hours. Jude Reason said the ordinance will continue to treat amplified advertising and certain categories of loud and raucous activity as prohibited during quiet hours and clarified that yelling, shouting, whistling or singing used in the context of parties or gatherings can qualify as "loud and raucous." The presentation said the county will now accept one affidavit from an affected party for after-the-fact complaints that meet the "itinerant/transient" or "irreparable/irreversible" definitions; previously enforcement relied on two affidavits from affected citizens.

Reason said the sheriff's office remains the first responder for in-the-moment complaints and that deputy reports and body-worn camera footage can be used to support later county enforcement; code enforcement will continue to handle follow-up cases, notices and citations. He noted that for noise found to be "itinerant or irreparable" county enforcement can proceed directly to a citation or to a hearing without the prior seven-day notice that earlier rules required. The county attorney's office and code staff said the clarified language is intended to reduce case dismissals in court for lack of specificity.

Commissioners and staff discussed quiet-hour inconsistencies across county ordinances. Short-term rentals currently reference a 10 p.m. start time; staff said those ordinances remain more restrictive where already adopted. Commissioners asked about ordinary activities such as residential lawn mowing on Sundays and staff replied that while the ordinance covers all-day Sunday as quiet hours in the noise code, enforcement is discretionary and will turn on reasonableness and repeated, documented disturbance rather than a single short activity. Jude Reason told the board, "If it is irreparable and irreversible, we can go directly to a citation or a hearing, where a magistrate or a judge can hear the case and assess a penalty for what can't be undone." (From the transcript.)

Staff told the commission they expect to return with a formal ordinance in September and asked for feedback on quiet-hour alignment across related county codes; no changes were adopted at the work session.

Ending: Commissioners recognized the need to balance business activity and residents' quiet, asked staff to continue coordination with the sheriff's office and the county attorney, and reserved further rule changes for the formal ordinance hearing.