Can you report a neighbor for loud wind chimes in Pierce County? Here’s what to know
Wind chimes can be quite beautiful and peaceful to listen to, but they can also become a nuisance, especially on days when it is extremely windy.
If you’ve ever had a neighbor with wind chimes hanging around their house, you might’ve asked yourself on occasion if there was anything you could do to get them to remove the wind chimes.
Depending on your relationship with your neighbor, the issue of noisy wind chimes could be resolved with a simple conversation. Your neighbor could decide to remove the wind chimes or move them to a different location where the noise will no longer be an issue after the conversation.
But they also could decide to leave them up.
In that case, Pierce County residents do have the option to file a noise complaint against their neighbors by calling the non-emergency help line at 253-287-4455.
Deputy Carly Cappetto, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office’s public information officer, said in an interview with The News Tribune that the Sheriff’s Office enforces all laws and ordinances in the county, but their response time for noise complaints is dependent on whether multiple people are calling about the same thing, or if there are other ongoing emergencies that they must prioritize.
Cappetto added that once a noise complaint is filed, a police officer will contact the complainant to get the full story and if it seems like it is significant enough, they will go in person to further investigate the issue.
Cappetto said that in the case of reporting someone for having noisy wind chimes, there might be little that officers can do since they do not carry decibel meters.
“We don’t have the capability of standing in someone’s yard and holding up a measuring tool that confirms that the neighbor’s wind chimes are too loud,” Cappetto said. “If there’s a noise complaint, typically, we’ll go check it out and do the best we can to mediate between the neighbors, if it’s something that can be resolved through mediation.”
Pierce County code states that the maximum permissible noise level for residential areas between 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. is 55 decibels. Noise levels between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. must be reduced by 10 decibels to 45 decibels.
According to Decibel Pro, 55 decibels is a “decibel level assigned to moderate sounds” and is in the lower range of a decibel scale and is acceptable for humans. 55 decibels is equivalent to the sound of a normal conversation, an electric kettle, a residential street and an electric toothbrush.
Cappetto added that since officers do not carry decibel readers, this situation would “likely be a civil issue that they’d want to go to the courts and request that a judge mandate they take their wind chimes down.”
Residents who have access to a decibel reader could use it to measure exactly how loud the wind chimes are and then provide that information to the Sheriff’s office as evidence of a noise violation.
Cappetto said that after someone submits this information, an officer would then write up a police report, which could lead to the person with the loud wind chimes receiving a ticket.
“They’re just infractions; they’re not criminal, so we could ticket somebody for a noise infraction, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to stop there,” Cappetto said. “If it continues to be an issue, then likely the homeowner would have to do a civil court lawsuit against that person and go through civil court to have a judge force them to take their wind chimes down.”
Cappetto said noise ordinance violation fees in the City of Tacoma are as follows:
First offense: $100
Second offense: $500
Third offense: $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail
“It doesn’t really turn into a criminal issue until it’s the third ticket, but the courts may also order the offender to take immediate action to fix the issue and keep it fixed,” Cappetto said.
Cappetto added that, as far as she knows, the Sheriff’s Office has never received any noise complaint calls about wind chimes.
This story was originally published February 8, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
