Amarillo, TX Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Article V of Chapter 4-9 establishes Amarillo's Noise Attenuation standards for property near Amarillo International Airport. Section 4-9-111 designates two noise zones based on the day-night average sound level (Ldn) shown on the Airport Overlay Zoning District Map: the 65 through 69 Ldn zone and the 70-and-greater Ldn zone, covering areas in both the City and unincorporated Potter and Randall Counties. A structure straddling more than one zone, or straddling a zone boundary, is treated as if it sits entirely within the more restrictive zone.

Section 4-9-112 bars the Building Official from issuing a building permit for any structure inside these zones unless a Texas-licensed professional engineer or architect certifies that the plans meet the Noise Level Reduction (NLR) standards of section 4-9-113. Those standards require the design to cut outdoor-to-indoor noise by a minimum of twenty-five decibels in the 65-69 Ldn zone and thirty decibels in the 70-and-greater Ldn zone, using accepted acoustical engineering practice. The minimum NLR applies specifically to areas where the public is received, office space, assembly rooms, sleeping areas, and other noise-sensitive or normally quiet spaces within the structure.

The rule exists because Amarillo International Airport sits inside City limits with flight paths crossing populated areas of Potter and Randall Counties, and it works alongside a separate aviation clear-zone easement requirement for large nonresidential tracts near the airport.