A data center in San Francisco may not push fixed-equipment noise more than 8 dBA above the ambient at the property plane on commercial or industrial land, under Police Code Section 2909. Inside a nearby home, fixed sources are capped at 45 dBA overnight and 55 dBA daytime.
San Francisco's noise ordinance, Police Code Article 29, Section 2909, governs fixed noise sources. On commercial or industrial property, no machine or device may exceed 8 dBA above the local ambient at any point outside the property plane — the standard a data center's chillers, cooling towers, and generators must meet. A separate interior limit bars any fixed source from causing more than 45 dBA inside a sleeping or living room between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., or 55 dBA between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. The Department of Public Health enforces Section 2909, and the Planning Code's Internet Service Exchange findings independently require fixed-source equipment to meet these decibel levels.
Cooling and generator noise exceeding 8 dBA over ambient at the property plane, or breaching the 45/55 dBA interior residential limits, is enforced by the Department of Public Health under Section 2909 and can trigger abatement orders.
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