Gainesville, FL Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

The airport noise zone is one of three "airport zones of influence" the city adopted under Sec. 30-4.26 to protect land uses near Gainesville Regional Airport from routine aircraft noise. It is split into three subzones based on day-night average sound level (DNL) contours: subzone A extends out to the 65 dB DNL boundary, subzone B to the 60 dB DNL boundary (excluding subzone A), and subzone C to the 55 dB DNL boundary (excluding subzones A and B). The boundaries currently in effect are drawn from the 2012 Noise Exposure Map for the airport, found FAA-compliant on April 20, 2009, and can only be revised by city ordinance.

The noise-zone construction standards apply to existing structures being added to, expanded, altered, repaired, or replaced (unless the work in any five-year span costs 50 percent or less of the structure's value), to structures moved into or within the zone, and to all new construction, each of which must meet the requirements before occupancy is permitted. Uses not listed in the zone's Table V-11 land-use table may still be allowed if the underlying zoning permits them, but only if the development delivers at least 25 dB of exterior-to-interior noise reduction and the owner records a permanent avigation easement in favor of the City of Gainesville and the Gainesville-Alachua County Regional Airport Authority. That easement must be recorded in the Alachua County public records before the city releases a development site plan, records a lot split or final plat, or issues a building permit, whichever comes first.