Sykesville council votes 6-1 to introduce amendment expanding noise rules on public property

The Town of Sykesville council voted 6-1 on March 10 to introduce Ordinance 2025-02, which would add new rules to the town code regulating noise generated on public property and to schedule a public hearing and adoption for March 24, 2025.

The ordinance as introduced would apply to sound produced on public property — including sidewalks, parks and public rights-of-way — between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. It would not regulate noise originating on private property during those hours. The measure establishes four categories: short-term amplification (defined in the draft as noise lasting less than 10 minutes), long-term amplification (noise continuing more than 10 minutes), disruptive practices (for example, deliberately shouting over someone exercising free-speech rights), and amplified sound at permitted events subject to distance requirements (the draft uses 250 feet from event boundaries as an example).

Town staff noted the draft builds on a 2021 ordinance that addressed late-night noise and that the new language was modeled on similar ordinances in other Maryland municipalities. Staff recommended introduction and scheduling of a public hearing on March 24.

Councilmembers debated several operational details. Questions focused on how the 250-foot distance would be measured at moving/strolling events such as parades, whether officers would use decibel meters (police vehicles currently are not equipped with certified decibel readers), and how enforcement would work in practice. Staff and councilmembers clarified the ordinance would not let police move private individuals simply for expressing views; enforcement would be centered on whether noise levels drown out normal conversation (around 60 decibels used as an analog in discussion) or otherwise create an unreasonably loud disturbance.

Council discussion also covered exceptions in the draft: the ordinance exempts noises generated by police, fire and emergency medical personnel, governmental emergency work and public-utility work, and allows typical short-duration sounds such as honking for safety. Council discussed that the draft creates a municipal infraction (a class B municipal infraction consistent with town code language discussed in the meeting) rather than a criminal penalty and that enforcement would often begin with a complaint and a police officer’s on-scene evaluation.

Two specific changes were proposed on the floor before the motion: lowering the ordinance’s long-duration threshold from 10 minutes to five minutes for disruptive, prolonged amplification, and removing the written-warning requirement (now standard in the town’s municipal-infractions process) for sanctioned/authorized events on public property so enforcement could proceed without first issuing a written warning during large events. The motion that passed directed staff to proceed with the introduction as amended and to schedule the public hearing and adoption on March 24, 2025.

The council majority approved introduction 6-1. The vote recorded at the meeting was six in favor, one opposed. The ordinance will return for public hearing on March 24; staff said they will circulate revised language before that meeting.