Yuba County, CA Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Aircraft operations cannot be regulated by a county noise ordinance the way ground sources can, so Yuba County addresses aircraft noise -- principally from Beale Air Force Base in southern Yuba County, plus the Yuba County and Brownsville airports -- through land use compatibility planning. The Beale Air Force Base Land Use Compatibility Plan, adopted by the Airport Land Use Commission (SACOG acts as ALUC for Yuba County), uses the Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL), California's airport noise metric, to map noise impacts. Under that plan, new residential development is deemed incompatible within Beale's CNEL 60 dB contour, and interior noise standards of CNEL 40 dB are applied for habitable rooms of residences; avigation easements and recorded overflight notifications are required for affected properties. The County's 2030 General Plan reinforces this: Policy HS10.11 keeps lands within the 65 CNEL contour of Beale AFB, Yuba County Airport and Brownsville Airport in agricultural, open-space, commercial or industrial use, and Policy HS4.3 requires new construction within the 65 dB CNEL Air Installation Compatibility Use Zone to use noise-mitigating building materials and techniques. Unincorporated communities such as Olivehurst-Plumas Lake and Linda lie within Beale's area of influence. These compatibility rules apply in unincorporated Yuba County; Yuba City is in Sutter County and is covered by separate compatibility plans.