Andy Larsen: Why so loud? Salt Lake County’s database of 1,241 noise complaints since 2020 can tell us.

To this point in my life, I’ve been the kind of person who’s more likely to be on the offending end of a noise complaint than the offended end.

Most of those were as a participant in parties near Westminster College — even the nerds at that school like me knew how to have a good time. Perhaps the one I was most singularly responsible for was when a neighbor complained we were having a bit too much fun playing the video game “Beatles Rock Band.” I remember screaming “Don’t Let Me Down” on vocals around 2 a.m. before a neighbor knocked on our door and said “Hey, we like the music, but maybe not right now?” They were good folks.

This week’s look at noise complaints typically involves more regularly scheduled noisemaking. When a single party gets too loud, fireworks go off at the wrong time of year, or noise from “an unusual circumstance” is generated, the right place to go is to your city’s police department. Instead, we’ll be looking at Salt Lake County’s list of more chronic noise complaints: times when the noises repeatedly beyond the bounds allowed by ordinance.

Those more frequent problems are managed by the Salt Lake County Health Department. This week, the agency sent me a list of all 1,241 noise complaints received this decade, since January 1, 2020. I was a little surprised by what that list revealed.

The ordinance

Salt Lake County’s noise ordinance was first adopted in 1984, but has been amended six times since then, most recently in 2019. Essentially, the ordinance sets maximum volume levels for ongoing noise and then absolute high-water mark limits for the noise being created.

The ordinance separates properties into four types: A, B, C, and D. Essentially, type A is stand-alone residential; type B includes other residential properties along with schools, churches, hospitals and the like; type C is retail and professional businesses, and type D includes various manufacturing and related industries.

But the noise limits are set by the type of receiving property, not the generating property. In other words, even if you’re a manufacturer, your noise levels are limited by the volume the properties around you hear.

In general, the maximum noise allowed is at 100 decibels. That limit goes down to 70 decibels audible at type A and type B properties between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Ongoing noise limits, though, are lower. An ongoing noise is limited to 10 decibels above the ambient noise typically occurring in the area. Those also have absolute limits: 60, 65, 70, and 75 decibels for type A, B, C, and D properties, respectively. During the night (from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.), limits decrease to 50 and 55 decibels for type A and B properties.

There’s also a noise limitation for cars and trucks. On roads where the speed limit is 40 miles per hour or higher, typical consumer cars and trucks are limited to 84 decibels; on slower roads, cars have to make less than 80 decibels of noise. Heavier vehicles (with a weight rating of 10,000 pounds or more) are limited to 88 and 94 decibels, depending on road speed limits.

That being said, just because a Salt Lake County citizen makes a complaint doesn’t mean that a violation is actually occurring. For ongoing noise complaints, the health department can send out a technician to measure decibel levels if need be. If the county finds the complaint credible, a warning letter can also be sent out, after which criminal and civil penalties can be assessed. The county, however, notes that such penalties are very rare.

Where the complaints occurred

Here’s a map of the complaints by ZIP code. Online, roll over each zip code to see how many complaints have been recorded there since 2020.

Complaints were most common downtown and in Sugar House ZIP codes. It’s not a coincidence those are the areas with the most nightlife in the valley — along with a great deal of construction.

What most frequently leads to a noise complaints?

I thought the most interesting breakdown, though, was about the types of complaints made. So I read every one of the 1,241 complaints sent to the county and sorted them into eight categories:

• Construction — Noise complaints created by construction of some kind, either from private individuals, businesses or construction companies.

• Loud music — Complaints about loud music from homes, garage bands, bars, nightclubs, concerts, you name it.

• Services — Complaints about ongoing service providers. Most common here is dumpster pickup at odd hours, but lawn care services and delivery services also drew complaints.

• Businesses — Complaints about businesses being too noisy in the course of normal operations.

• HVAC/Plumbing/Power — Complaints about loud air conditioning or heating systems, noisy pipes, loud generators and so on.

• Alarm — an annoying alarm going off that shouldn’t.

• Bad neighbors — Honestly, my favorite category. Some legitimate complaints among neighbors across all sorts of noise ... and some more out-there ones where there’s just clearly an ongoing beef occurring.

• Government — Governmental authorities making too much noise. For example, a public golf course using a lawn mower at odd hours, or a TRAX train rails squealing and causing a ruckus.

There were also many complaints where the noise source wasn’t clear from the report. I called those “unknown” reports.

Here are the results:

By far, the most common source of complaints is construction work. Most of the time, those complaints seemed to be on relatively large-scale construction projects, such as putting up apartment buildings and whatnot. Cranes, jackhammers, excavators and so on can all make a lot of noise.

Music complaints were the second-most common. These typically tended to be from bars, nightclubs, and event centers, playing music loudly enough for residents to complain beyond the 10 p.m. cutoff cited in the ordinance. Sometimes, early-morning loud music came from gyms running exercise classes. Residential speakers playing music too loudly, or amateur bands practicing and playing loudly enough to hear was also relatively common.

I was surprised to see the number of complaints about trash pickups at early morning hours, usually between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. In all, 28 separate claims over the last three years noted ACE Recycling and Disposal trucks in particular were coming around earlier than they were supposed to, lifting and dropping heavy, loud dumpsters across the valley. That problem doesn’t seem to have been fixed, based on the ongoing complaints.

I honestly expected more complaints where residential neighbors complained about one another’s noisy activities. Some of those were placed in the construction or music categories, but even those were mostly filled by the actions of businesses.

Some standout stories

Still, some complaints made me laugh.

• One complaint noted that a 7-Eleven located in Salt Lake City was playing opera music over outdoor loudspeakers, allegedly to prevent loitering on the property.

• Two complainants in two different areas of the county said their neighbor’s wind chimes were too loud — one was even called “gigantic.”

• One home put a skateboard ramp in their driveway, which a neighbor said was causing too much jubilant skateboarding noise. Another complainant mentioned kids in the neighborhood playing soccer from 10 to 10:30 p.m.

• Only one complaint mentioned a rooster crowing too early in the morning, though another cited all-day noise from a property with turkeys, chickens and ducks.

• A street-performing “electric robot” on 250 S. Main Street was characterized as “very loud.”

I also have to give a shoutout to one complainant, who called the county on his own landscaping business. He wanted to have a technician come out to see if his mowers were too loud.

And finally, I have to give my best wishes to a complainant who noted a neighbor was singing at a “BEYOND excessive” volume at 3 a.m in Salt Lake City. While that wasn’t me this time — my Beatles Rock Band days are over — I know at one point it could have been. Salt Lake County, don’t let them down.

Andy Larsen is a data columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune. You can reach him at alarsen@sltrib.com

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