Council reviews draft vehicle-noise ordinance, questions decibel limits and enforcement

On July 30, 2025, the City Council reviewed a draft amendment creating a new city code section to address motor-vehicle noise, adding officer-observation enforcement factors and graduated penalties for repeat violations.

The proposed text would keep much of the existing law but incorporate language modeled on Fort Collins that lets officers rely on observed behavior — for example, revving engines or motorcycles operated in low gear at high RPM — rather than requiring measurement of a modified exhaust system. City Attorney John Brody told the council the draft also pulls into the new section existing state-law provisions the city had previously incorporated by reference and adds a stepped penalty scheme, including higher fines and potential incarceration for third or subsequent violations within 12 months.

Brody said the ordinance is intended to create “a potpourri” of existing and new provisions so officers have discretion to enforce…