Osceola County, FL Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)
Key Facts
- Status
- Fully exempt, § 9-110(h)(5)
- What else is exempt
- Railroad equipment, same clause
- General limit it escapes
- 55 dBA day / 45 dBA night
- Variance available
- No, exempted sources aren't regulated activities
Summary
Aircraft noise is not regulated by Osceola County's noise ordinance at all. Sec. 9-110(h)(5) exempts 'locomotives and other railroad equipment, and aircraft' outright from every decibel limit and curfew that otherwise applies to sound crossing a property line, day or night.
(a) Prohibited sound levels. Except as otherwise provided herein, no person shall create, or cause to be created, any source of sound so as to create a sound level beyond the real property line of the real property upon which the sound source is located which exceeds the following sound level limits: Time of Day Decibels (A-scale) 7:00 a.m. through sunset 55; One minute after sunset through 6:59 a.m. 45 ... (h) Exemptions. The following uses and activities shall be exempt from the provisions of this section: ... (5) Locomotives and other railroad equipment, and aircraft.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 71 | Land Development Code: Supplement 10).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 9-110 sets the county's general noise limits, up to 55 dBA by day and 45 dBA at night measured at the property line under subsection (a), plus stricter caps for music, mechanical equipment and multifamily buildings. Subsection (h) then lists sixteen categories of sound exempted from all of it, and paragraph (5) names 'locomotives and other railroad equipment, and aircraft' specifically, alongside emergency sirens (1)-(2), routine public-utility maintenance (6), farm equipment with a muffler (7), and lawful daytime construction (12). Because the exemption is written into the noise ordinance itself rather than carved out by a separate finding, the county's own code, not just federal preemption, is what takes aircraft off the table for a noise complaint filed under this article.
The general catch-all in subsection (g), which bans any 'noise disturbance' as defined at Sec. 9-106, applies to sound within the article's coverage, and the paragraph (h) exemptions like the aircraft carve-out sit outside that coverage as written. A resident bothered by aircraft operations therefore has no path to a citation, a variance, or a code enforcement complaint under this ordinance; the board of adjustment's variance authority under Sec. 9-109 applies to activities regulated by this article, and an exempted source is, by definition, not one of them.
Violations & Fines
Because aircraft noise is exempted, there is no violation to charge under Sec. 9-110 and no fine schedule applies to it. Chapter 7's general code-enforcement fines, up to $250 a day for a first violation and $500 a day for a repeat, along with fines up to $5,000 for irreparable violations, apply only to sound sources that fall within the ordinance's coverage, which excludes aircraft under the (h)(5) exemption.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Osceola County regulate aircraft noise?
Can I file a noise complaint about a plane or helicopter overhead?
What noise limits would apply if aircraft weren't exempt?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Osceola County
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Osceola County to another location·View the Florida noise ordinances overview
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