Pismo Beach, CA Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Section 9.24.050 B 8 c of the Pismo Beach Municipal Code is the car alarm rule. It prohibits sounding or permitting the sounding of any exterior burglar or fire alarm or any motor vehicle burglar alarm unless the alarm is terminated within thirty minutes of activation. The limit is a single clock: thirty minutes from the moment the alarm activates. Both the person who sounds the alarm and the person who permits it to sound are reached, which puts the owner of a vehicle on the hook for an alarm left running.

The subsection B lead-in declares the acts in subsections B 1 through B 8 of the section, and the causing or permitting of them, to be in violation of the chapter. Paragraph 8 is titled Emergency Signaling Devices, and paragraph c is its third clause. The clauses before it govern stationary devices: paragraph a bars the intentional outdoor sounding of any fire, burglar or civil defense alarm, siren, whistle or similar stationary emergency signaling device, except for emergency purposes or testing. Paragraph b limits testing to between seven a.m. and seven p.m., using only the minimum cycle time and never longer than sixty seconds, and allows testing of the complete emergency signaling system no more than once in each calendar month.

Warning devices necessary for public safety, such as police, fire and ambulance sirens and train horns, are exempt from the chapter under section 9.24.090 B. A car alarm is not on that list.

A car alarm that stays under thirty minutes can still be a problem under other parts of the chapter. Section 9.24.050 A bars any noise disturbance plainly audible at a distance of fifty feet from the noisemaker, and section 9.24.040 A makes it unlawful to willfully or negligently make or continue any noise that disturbs the peace and quiet of a neighborhood. The building official and the police department administer the chapter under section 9.24.030.