Eagan, MN Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

City Code Sec. 11.64 creates the ANZ Aircraft Noise Zone Overlay District under the authority of Minn. Stats. § 473.192, based on the city's finding that development in certain areas is impacted by aircraft noise and that proper construction methods can attenuate that noise to protect residents' health, safety and welfare. Subd. 6 establishes four numbered noise zones plus a buffer zone based on day-night average sound level (DNL): Zone 1 at DNL 75-plus, Zone 2 at DNL 74 to 70, Zone 3 at DNL 69 to 65, Zone 4 at DNL 64 to 60, and a noise buffer zone extending one statute mile beyond the DNL 60 contour, all mapped on the city's official zoning map.

Subd. 5 is the operative permit gate: no building or occupancy permit for land in an aircraft noise zone will be issued unless the applicant demonstrates compliance with the section's requirements. Subd. 7 ties compliance to the Metropolitan Council's Land Use Compatibility Guidelines for Aircraft Noise, requiring construction that meets noise reduction levels in decibels (dBA) appropriate to the zone and land use, with the more stringent of two applicable standards controlling where a structure mixes uses, unless the uses are acoustically separated by a partition with a minimum sound transmission class of 25.

The overlay applies to new development, redevelopment and reconstruction of Metropolitan Airports Commission noise-insulation program homes, but exempts additions, remodeling or rehabilitation of existing residential buildings and new homes on lots existing as of February 13, 2009, where no new subdivision is created. Some uses are simply incompatible and barred outright in the higher-noise zones regardless of construction method.