Windsor residents and visitors will soon face steeper consequences for what the town considers a range of troublesome public conduct, including playing excessively loud music, fighting and even using foul language that could incite violence.
The town’s revised disturbing the peace ordinance, approved unanimously by council members Wednesday, Feb. 4, outlines “unreasonable noises and disturbances” that can trigger fines, should a complaint be found valid.
Beginning March 4 under the town’s updated rules, individuals will be fined up to $500 for excessive noise, inciteful, offensive language, or fighting in public places.
The change comes as town police, staffed by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, have struggled to enforce the town’s existing law, which hadn’t been updated since 1995. It lacked clear direction and consequences for “routine neighborhood issues,” said Lauren Berges, a senior management analyst with Windsor.
In particular, Berges said the town, in recent months, has received feedback from residents that highlighted some recurring neighborhood noise concerns, primarily loud music. Records from the Sheriff’s Office show that in 2025, Windsor police received 136 calls for loud music, accounting for 14% of the 920 disturbance-related reports for the year.
Vice Mayor Tanya Potter said she’s “heard from several people in the public say that they’ve tried to call (the police), but there have been some limitations as to what can be done with their neighbors and noise.”
Starr View Drive resident Dennis Pryor has made one of those disturbance-related calls.
“We’ve heard gunshots, fireworks, loud noises,” Pryor told the town council. “We called the police department. They go over there, tell (people) to shut it down. It starts again after 10 minutes. There are no fines involved. It’s a slap on the wrist at best. We have babies that can’t sleep at night.”
Residents also made 55 calls for party-related disturbances, 19 verbal disturbances and 38 general disturbances in 2025. Other disturbance-related calls were related to juveniles and family or domestic issues.
The police department, under the new disturbing the peace ordinance, can issue warnings and write fines when Windsor residents or guests of a rental house or public party:
Fight in a public place;
Challenge a person to fight in a public place;
Make loud or unreasonable noise that willfully and maliciously disturbs another person’s quiet enjoyment of their property;
Uses offensive words in a public place that is likely to result in an immediate violent reaction.
The new law will be enforced by police, who will issue a warning for the first offense. Second and third offensives will cost $150 and $300 respectively. Any additional offense within 12 months will cost $500 per citation. Those subject to the ordinance include property owners or people in control of the property, such as tenants, or hosts of a party or gathering, if in a public setting.
It is unclear how the police will determine if a sound is too loud. Unlike, for example, Healdsburg police officers, who are equipped with decibel measurement devices, Windsor officers will have to rely on witness statements, recordings or catching someone in the act.
Windsor Police Chief Gregory Piccinini did not return requests for comment.
The town is not the only local municipality to tackle offensive speech in its disturbing the peace ordinance. In its city code, Sebastopol has prohibited “the use of profane language” in its city parks. Healdsburg also prohibits the use of “any obscene or vulgar language” that disturbs the peace. Santa Rosa prohibits the use of profane, offensive or abusive language by a panhandler only.
Windsor Town Manager Jon Davis said the use of offensive words is not necessarily a violation of the First Amendment, but added that the town’s laws focus on fighting words, which is not protected under the Constitution.
“In practice, this provision is intended to apply only in rare situations involving direct personal insults or confrontations that are on the verge of becoming physical,” Davis said. “When interpreted and applied in this narrow manner, the ordinance provision is coextensive with the fighting words doctrine and is consistent with established federal and California case law.”
All cities have time limitations on noise, and many municipalities, including Cotati, Sonoma, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County have laws that focus on loud noise at parties. Like those municipalities, Windsor allows party hosts to apply for special noise permits. Those permits will now be required for construction activities, outdoor events or “other temporary disturbances” with amplified sound.
“This ensures that elevated noise can be managed proactively, with appropriate review and conditions, while maintaining protections for surrounding properties,” staff said.
The new updates compliment existing rules, which limit outside noise in residential areas to 55 decibels during the day — about the sound of a running coffee percolator, quiet office or light traffic — and 50 decibel, akin to the sound of moderate rainfall, during the evening. Construction noise is restricted to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays. No construction is allowed on Sundays.
In commercial or industrial areas, sound limits are 65 decibels — the sound of a quiet vacuum cleaner — and 55 decibels at night.
Amie Windsor is the Community Journalism Team Lead with The Press Democrat. She can be reached at amie.windsor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5218.