Aurora, CO Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Aurora City Code Article XI is the construction side of the city's aircraft noise rules. Section 22-425 states the intent: the article provides three methods for residential and commercial building design and construction to comply with the aircraft noise reduction criteria referenced in Chapter 146, Article 8, of the Code. Chapter 146 supplies the criteria, and Article XI tells a builder how to meet them.

The article does not apply across all of Aurora. Its methods are for new or remodeled structures within named areas: the Buckley AFB Noise Impact District (NID), the Special Noise Impact District (SNID), Denver International Airport's (DIA) Commercial Airport Noise Areas (CANA), and the Noise Impact Boundary Areas (NIBA). The mapped districts and LDN 65/55 contours surround Buckley Space Force Base, Denver International Airport, Centennial Airport and Front Range Airport. The map is on file with the city clerk, so whether a given lot is covered is answered by that map.

Inside those areas, the standard is expressed as outside-to-inside transmission loss, or OITL. As the name says, it describes the sound lost between the outside of the building and the inside. The minimum applies to exterior walls, windows, doors and vents. Required OITL ranges from 25 to 30 decibels depending on the district.

A builder has three ways to verify compliance: a prescriptive construction method, an engineering-analysis method, or post-construction acoustic testing. Building permits for covered projects require compliance with one of the three. Under Method III, verified testing is required before occupancy.

Two points of scope matter to property owners. The article covers residential and commercial buildings alike. It also reaches remodeled structures as well as new ones, so a remodel inside a noise district falls under the same methods as new construction.

The article regulates civilian building construction in the noise-impacted areas, not the airfields. Buckley is federal land, and Aurora's article does not govern the base itself. Related provisions appear at §§ 22-427 and 22-428.