San Jose caps a new data center's noise at 55 dBA DNL at the property line where it sits next to homes or public uses, under General Plan Policy EC-1.3. This is a General Plan and CEQA standard, applied at permit review, not a codified property-line dBA ordinance.
San Jose does not run a numeric property-line noise code like Santa Clara County's. Its Municipal Code Chapter 10.16 bars only "disturbing or unreasonably loud" noise, with no decibel figures. The hard number lives in the Envision San José 2040 General Plan: Policy EC-1.3 limits a new nonresidential use — a data center's chillers, cooling towers, and backup generators included — to 55 dBA DNL at the property line when adjacent to residential or public/quasi-public land. The limit is enforced through the Special Use Permit and CEQA review: applicants submit an acoustical study and add enclosures, barriers, or setbacks to meet 55 dBA. Policy EC-1.2 separately flags a significant impact where a project raises noise 5 dBA DNL.
A project that cannot show 55 dBA DNL at an adjacent residential property line fails CEQA noise review and permit conditions; exceedances after occupancy are enforced as permit-condition and public-nuisance violations by the City.
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