Fresno, CA Noise from Specific Sources: Generator Noise (2026)

Section 10-105 bars any 'sound or noise which causes discomfort or annoyance to any reasonable person of normal sensitiveness,' and lists machinery such as fans, pumps, engines, compressors, motors and generators as covered sources, alongside animals, amplified sound and construction tools. , 60 dB during the day, 60-65 dB commercial, and a flat 70 dB in industrial districts at any hour. Section 10-106 makes any reading more than five decibels above the ambient level at the complaining party's property line prima facie evidence of a violation of Section 8-305.

Code officers measure using the procedure in Section 10-104: a calibrated, ANSI-compliant sound level meter is set up at least ten feet from obstructions, and both the ambient level (generator off) and the offending level (generator on) are each averaged over readings taken at fifteen-second intervals across a fifteen-minute sample. , not Sunday) and 'emergency work' needed to restore property to a safe condition or repair utility service, a portable generator run for convenience during an outage does not automatically qualify just because the outage is an emergency; the exemption is for the restoration work itself, not routine backup power use. Absent one of those two exceptions, a generator running above the applicable zone ceiling is treated the same as any other regulated machinery noise.