ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council has two ordinances focused at cutting down on noise levels in the city.
One was focused on giving clarity to noise controls for Atlanta’s night life and another was aimed at removing a previous ordinance that took similar action. Both ordinances were set to go before the city council, but were returned as held to the Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee.
That means they’re both not ready for a full council vote yet.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Channel 2 Action News previously reported on the city legislation’s effects, which would have set restrictions for anywhere someone could order or pay for an alcoholic drink, making it so their outdoor areas are quieter if within 500 feet of anywhere zoned for single-family homes.
Businesses were also prevented from having live entertainment or electronically amplified music at midnight or later in those areas, with the possibility that violations could cost businesses their liquor licenses.
TRENDING STORIES:
- ‘Weed, the smoking and drugs’: Residents say Airbnbs turned condo into hotel hell
- Social Security resumes what it once called ‘clawback cruelty’
- Former UGA great David Pollack says his wife Lindsey has brain cancer
Now, Wan has introduced legislation to repeal those restrictions, with the new ordinance clarifying the intent is more focused on clarifying to the community that issues of noise at places serving alcohol should be solved in a different way, through a “new noise ordinance,” prompting the repeal attempt.
As far as the noise ordinance focused on outdoor equipment such as lawn mowers and similar tools, Councilmember Bryon Amos wants to formalize quiet hours made by what the legislation calls mechanical sound-making devices, with slight variations on weekdays and weekends.
The same ordinance also includes provisions for live entertainment in outdoor areas to “maintain a balance between nightlife operation and the quality of life needs of nearby community members.”
The ordinance places limits on sound from the devices in question.
However, while current code makes it illegal for “any person or persons to play, use, operate, or permit to be played, used, or operated any radio receiving device, television, stereo, musical instrument, phonograph sound amplifier or other machines or devices for the producing, reproducing or amplifying of sound and/or noise at such a volume and in such a manner so as to create, or cause to be created, any noises or sounds which are plainly audible at a distance of 300 feet or more from the building, structure or vehicle, or in the case of real property, beyond the property limits, in which it is located,” the new ordinance would modify the rules.
If passed, the legislation in Atlanta would add restrictions on “noises and/or sounds caused to be made by commercial entities in the normal course of their business, noises or sounds created by mechanical sound-making devices located on any patio, deck or in any other outdoor or open eating or drinking areas of an eating or drinking establishment.”
For Sunday through Thursday, the rules would be in effect 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., and would be in effect from midnight to 7 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday nights. On weekends, the distance would also be reduced from 300 feet to 100 feet.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group
