{"id":1040,"date":"2026-06-01T21:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1040"},"modified":"2026-06-01T21:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:36:20","slug":"hellacious-car-noise-is-affecting-charlotte-businesses-how-will-officials-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1040","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Hellacious\u2019 car noise is affecting Charlotte businesses. How will officials act?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlotte can\u2019t sleep.<\/p>\n

Phone calls and email complaints have poured in from across the city over noisy cars that businesses say have cost them money and residents say have cost them their peace<\/a>, according to city leaders. The City Council is considering new enforcement techniques to help curb the racket \u2014 or at least identify hot spots.<\/p>\n

Read more CMPD investigating 17-year-old shot at Charlotte Douglas Airport Overlook<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThese are very loud cars, and it reverberates all around the neighborhood. And I think the important thing, too, is it creates an atmosphere of unease. Like, you hear that noise, and it\u2019s scary aside from just being irritating,\u201d councilman Ed Driggs said during a safety committee meeting on Monday. \u201cOur failure to rein that in \u2026 can be perceived as an inability on our part to protect quality of life for our citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s strongest enforcement tool could be cameras that measure noise levels. But North Carolina is a Dillon Rule state, meaning Charlotte can only pass policies if the state has given it explicit permission to do so.<\/p>\n

Noise cameras are not explicitly allowed under state law, said Jessica Battle, assistant city attorney for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. Her office is looking at what more the city could do, such as using noise cameras for data collection but not enforcement.<\/p>\n

Councilman Malcolm Graham suggested the city find a state legislator to sponsor a bill to change the law in Raleigh, which would give Charlotte more room to act.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a question of if we have to do something. We must do something,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n

Loud noise is the number one complaint CMPD Capt. Christian Wagner said he receives from uptown residents.<\/p>\n

Charlotte already has a noise ordinance on the books<\/a> that prohibits the removal or modification of mufflers to create \u201cunreasonably loud and disturbing noises,\u201d and CMPD officers can pull vehicles over if they are in violation.<\/p>\n

On May 15, CMPD stopped 66 vehicles for noise-related traffic violations as part of a targeted operation<\/a>. Police made four arrests and issued 61 citations, including 16 specifically for loud mufflers.<\/p>\n

But enforcement can be tricky due to limited resources, Wagner said. Photo enforcement would help beef up those efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s an opportunity here for our city to follow that route,\u201d Wagner said.<\/p>\n

Read more Restaurant reinspections: One Mecklenburg spot keeps \u2018B\u2019 grade<\/a><\/p>\n

Charlotte residents are dealing with the same issue on \u201calmost a nightly basis,\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple residents lamented the issue during an April council meeting.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Lamb, a cellist for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, complained about the \u201chellacious noise\u201d caused by cars with exhaust cutouts or missing mufflers. To demonstrate the issue during his public comment, Lamb held an iPad to the microphone and played a nearly minute-long compilation video he\u2019d filmed of cars driving around the streets of Charlotte with popping and grating sounds. Mayor Vi Lyles interjected before the video finished to tell Lamb his time was up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got it. We really did get it,\u201d Lyles said.<\/p>\n

Hotelier Hugh Templeman said the noise issue was so serious that visitors were taking note \u2014 and dinging businesses like his for the auditory intrusions.<\/p>\n

About 4% fewer travelers visited Charlotte compared to the same time last year, Templeman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of that problem is amazingly attached to the video we heard earlier, noise in the city,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re losing business as a city. I\u2019m losing business as a hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Templeman is the general manager of The Grand Bohemian<\/a>, an upscale hotel in uptown. His hotel spent $140,000 to add a third layer of glass to windows to block out more street noise.<\/p>\n

The Grand Bohemian had 70 complaints in 2025, amounting to 78% positive feedback versus 22% negative. If noise complaints were tossed from that metric, Templeman said his hotel would have 83% positive feedback, putting it in \u201celite status.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom 2 a.m. and 5:30 in the morning, our folks who\u2019re visiting our city could not sleep. And you see the impact on the hotel grading, that they would say, \u2018Love the city, had a great opportunity, but when it comes to sleeping, Charlotte is dead last,\u2019\u201d Mayor Pro Tem James Mitchell said during the committee meeting.<\/p>\n

Mitchell has been meeting with concerned hotel operators since January, he said. He initially thought the issue could warrant a pilot program specific to uptown. He now realizes the problem is much more extensive and warrants a citywide solution, he said.<\/p>\n

The topic is slated to return to the safety committee in August for more discussion.<\/p>\n

Read more Buc-ee\u2019s to break ground on its first NC travel center. Here\u2019s when & where<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 5:06 PM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlotte City Council weighs noise cameras and legal changes as residents and businesses complain loud cars are hurting sleep, tourism and quality of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Hellacious\u2019 car noise is affecting Charlotte businesses. 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