Fort Collins, CO Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Chapter 20, Article II of the Municipal Code sets maximum permissible noise levels by zoning district (§ 20-23) and makes violating them punishable as an unclassified misdemeanor (§ 20-29). Section 20-25 carves out ten categories of noise the article does not reach, and the third exception is aircraft: the operation of aircraft or other activities which are subject to federal law with respect to noise control, and the generation of sound in situations within the jurisdiction of the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Because interstate aviation noise is federally preempted under FAA noise-certification rules, the City Code recognizes it has no authority to impose its own decibel limits on aircraft operating over Fort Collins or at Northern Colorado Regional Airport, jointly owned with Loveland.

The same Section 20-25 also exempts emergency signaling devices, agricultural activity noise, church bells during services, snow removal equipment with a muffler, golf course maintenance equipment and City work in the public right-of-way, but none of those exceptions overlaps with the aircraft carve-out. Residents with aircraft noise complaints are directed to federal channels, such as the FAA or the airport's own noise-complaint process, rather than Fort Collins Municipal Court, since a citation issued under § 20-23 for aircraft noise falls outside the noise article's own stated scope.