Provo, UT Noise from Specific Sources: HVAC & Mechanical Noise (2026)

300, Transitional Development Standards for Uses Abutting Residential Zones, the buffering chapter that governs the edge between incompatible land uses. Subsection (8) singles out mechanical equipment: air conditioners, fans, pumps, and similar gear should be tucked inside the building or on a roof behind parapet walls; if a unit sits outside within 25 feet of the nearest residential use, it needs a visual and noise barrier, masonry wall or landscaping, that fully surrounds it and rises at least one foot above it. 030, Provo City Code.

The chapter applies wherever a multiple-family residential, business, commercial, or industrial lot abuts a one-family residential, residential agricultural, or agricultural zone (or abuts a multiple-family zone), except inside the DT1 General Downtown and GW Downtown Gateway zones. The surrounding subsections show this is a full buffering package, not an isolated HVAC rule: loading docks can't sit within 50 feet of a residential use and must be screened by a 6-foot masonry wall, trash containers must stay 25 feet from the residential-zone side property line, and overhead bay doors are barred within 25 feet of a residential-facing wall.

Under (11), the Planning Commission may approve an alternative buffering arrangement only if it makes specific findings that the substitute equals or beats these requirements. Compliance is checked at project-plan review by Development Services, since this is a site-design zoning standard rather than a nuisance complaint process.