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Athens City Council adopts rewritten noise ordinance and updates special-events rules
Summary
The council unanimously adopted a rewritten noise ordinance and an amended special-events ordinance to clarify amplified-sound rules, exemptions for government operations, and standards for denying permits; City Attorney Shane Black framed the changes as aligning the code with recent court rulings.
The Athens City Council on June 22 adopted two code changes intended to modernize how the city regulates disruptive sound and special events.
City Attorney Shane Black told the council the noise ordinance rewrite (Ordinance K) is a complete repeal and replacement intended to align Athens’s language with state and federal case law while retaining a general rule that prohibits "loud and raucous and unreasonable" noise. Black described the rewrite as moving away from vague generalities or rigid decibel thresholds and toward examples and standards the courts have approved: "What the noise ordinance does is it includes a lot of that language in the general rule, which prohibits loud and raucous and unreasonable noise." The ordinance lists examples (tires squealing, excessively amplified public venues, loud music) and clarifies enforcement scope.
The special-events ordinance amendment (Ordinance L) defines amplified sound, clarifies when a permit is required, and adds criteria under which the police may deny a permit — for example when repetitive events at a single site pose an "unreasonable burden" on adjacent businesses and alternative sites exist. Both ordinances include explicit exemptions for governmental operations such as tornado sirens and emergency vehicles.
Council members moved to suspend the rules and adopted each ordinance on unanimous 4–0 roll-call votes. Mr. Black and several council members emphasized the amendments seek to respect First Amendment assembly and speech rights while providing a clearer permitting and enforcement framework.
The ordinances were added to the agenda as time-sensitive items and were adopted at the meeting; implementation and enforcement details will be handled by city departments under the revised code provisions.
