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

20's public-nuisance-noise provision, immediately after the chapter's general ban on sounding a vehicle horn except as an emergency or danger warning. The Council carved burglar alarms out with a specific time limit rather than the general reasonableness standard used elsewhere in the chapter: sounding a burglar alarm does not violate the section unless the alarm has run continuously for more than 20 minutes. The ordinance goes further than a bare exemption, imposing an equipment mandate: as of one year after the ordinance's effective date, no owner of a motor vehicle, dwelling, or commercial property may operate an audible burglar alarm unless it is built to automatically terminate its own operation within 20 minutes of activation.

That equipment requirement applies to alarms on any of the three property types the section names, vehicle, dwelling, or commercial property, so a car alarm, a house alarm, and a store alarm are held to the identical 20-minute cutoff. The section sets no decibel limit for alarms; the 20-minute duration is the entire legal test, meaning a very loud alarm that self-terminates within 20 minutes complies, while a quieter alarm that keeps sounding past 20 minutes does not.