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

160(G) is part of Rialto's citywide design guidelines for commercial and industrial development and singles out mechanical and HVAC equipment for its own screening standard, separate from the general service-area rule in subsection F. The subsection prohibits installing ground-mounted service equipment, specifically naming 'mechanical and HVAC equipments,' along any portion of a building facing a public street unless the building's design or site constraints make a different location impossible. Where the equipment does sit at ground level, the developer must provide the same buffer required for loading areas: a minimum ten-foot wide landscape strip combined with a minimum eight-foot high masonry wall, and the landscaping cannot be trimmed below the height of the equipment it is meant to screen.

The rule pushes builders toward roof-mounted or side-and-rear-yard HVAC placement instead of visible street-facing installations, since a ground unit on the street side triggers the wall-and-landscaping requirement while a roof-mounted unit generally does not. Community development staff review HVAC and mechanical equipment placement as part of site plan and building permit approval, checking elevations and landscape plans against subsection G before signing off on construction. 50, it functions as a land-use and screening control that happens to reduce audible HVAC noise at the property line, not as a decibel limit tied to a specific piece of equipment.