Madera County holds stationary noise from data-center cooling and generators to its General Plan Noise Element: 50 dB Leq daytime and 45 dB Leq nighttime, measured at a nearby home's property line. County Code Chapter 9.58 adds a nuisance standard enforced by citation.
Madera County has no noise rule written for data centers, so a facility's chillers, fans, compressors, and diesel generators are held to two layers. General Plan Noise Element Table 7.A.4 caps non-transportation (stationary) noise at a noise-sensitive property line at 50 dB hourly Leq (70 dB maximum) from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and 45 dB Leq (65 dB maximum) from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., each lowered 5 dB for pure-tone or impulsive noise, applied through CEQA. County Code Chapter 9.58 (amended 2025) separately bars disturbing, excessive, or offensive noise and treats sound plainly audible 50 feet from the source as prima facie evidence of a violation.
Cooling or generator noise above 50 dB Leq by day or 45 at night at a nearby home breaches the General Plan and Chapter 9.58. Violations are a misdemeanor and public nuisance, drawing citations up to $1,000 per offense.
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