Plano, TX Noise from Specific Sources: HVAC & Mechanical Noise (2026)

Plano's rewritten noise article treats mechanical equipment noise as a defense to prosecution rather than as a separately licensed activity: § 14-89(a)(4) states that noise 'produced by the operation of any heating, refrigeration, ventilation, air conditioning equipment or system, generator, or pool equipment' is not prosecutable so long as it does not directly or indirectly result in a specific noise level exceeding 65 dBA on residential property or 75 dBA on commercial/mixed-use or industrial property. Unlike the food-delivery defense in § 14-89(a)(13), this defense carries no time-of-day restriction, it applies around the clock, but the decibel ceiling does the work, and it is measured the same way as any other specific noise level under § 14-87: at the property where the noise is audible, with the background-noise and impulsive-noise adjustments in § 14-87(a)(1) still applying.

If a rooftop condenser, backup generator, or pool pump pushes past 65 dBA at a residential receiver (or 75 dBA at a commercial/industrial one), the operator loses the defense and the noise is prosecutable as a nuisance offense under § 14-86, the same offense that governs every other unpermitted noise source in the article. 8 fine schedule, up to $500 for a first offense, with escalating minimums of $300 and $400 for second and third convictions within three years, plus the possibility of abatement or injunctive relief. The provision took effect with the article's comprehensive rewrite, Ordinance No. 2025-8-3, adopted August 11, 2025.