Arcadia, CA Noise from Specific Sources: HVAC & Mechanical Noise (2026)

Arcadia Municipal Code § 4610.3(c) is the equipment-specific noise rule. It makes it unlawful for any person to produce, cause or allow sound or noise from air-conditioning equipment, pumps, fans or similar machinery that is received on residentially zoned property occupied by another person in excess of 55 dBA. The measuring point is the neighbor's residentially zoned lot, not the lot where the machine sits, so a compressor, pool pump or exhaust fan is judged by what reaches the adjoining home.

The rule has one grandfathering clause. If the machinery was installed prior to December 1, 1970, the limit is 60 dBA instead of 55 dBA. Nothing else in the subsection separates day from night, so the same figure applies around the clock, unlike the amplified-sound table in § 4610.3(a), which steps down to 50 dBA for residential night hours.

Measurement follows § 4610.2: a sound level meter using the A-weighting and response described in § 4610.1(n). Under § 4610.1(a), an A-Weighted Sound Pressure Level is written dBA, and § 4610.1(m) defines Sound Level as the decibel level measured on the "A" scale with slow response. Section 4610.1(i) defines the Property Boundary as the imaginary line at the ground surface separating real property owned by one person from that owned by another, extended vertically, and for condominiums the wall, floor or ceiling between adjoining units.

The correction table in § 4610.3(b) is written to adjust the limits in § 4610.3(a), so the text does not apply its impulsive-sound or short-duration adjustments to subsection (c). The only exemption printed in the section for this rule is § 4610.3(d): noise from Emergency Work and from mechanical devices used with it. Emergency Work covers restoring property to a safe condition after a public calamity, protecting persons or property from imminent danger, and utility service restoration.

Section 4610 states the policy behind the chapter: to prohibit unnecessary, excessive and annoying noises from all sources subject to the City's police power. Section 4630 adds a separate ban on willfully making or continuing loud, unnecessary and unusual noise that disturbs the peace or quiet of a neighborhood or causes discomfort or annoyance to residents of the area, which can reach a machine that is under the 55 dBA figure but still disturbs the neighborhood.