Jessamine County, KY Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

The Jessamine County Fiscal Court's Noise Control Ordinance (Chapter 92, titled in § 92.01) does not set a separate aircraft chapter. Aircraft appear in one place, § 92.36(E), headed "Vehicle, motorboat or aircraft repairs and testing." Division (E)(1) makes it a violation to repair, rebuild, modify or test an aircraft, along with any motorcycle, motor vehicle or motorboat, between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. the following day in a way that causes a noise disturbance exceeding a sound duration level of L50 for a 15-minute time span, audible within 10 feet of the walls of an adjacent residential dwelling. All four conditions must be met: the night window, a noise disturbance, the L50 level over 15 minutes, and a residential dwelling next door.

Division (E)(2) is the aircraft-specific sentence. Nothing in the division can be construed to prohibit, restrict, penalize, enjoin or regulate the movement of aircraft conducted in accordance with applicable federal laws or regulations. Flight operations are therefore outside what the county can cite under this section. What stays within reach is ground work on the aircraft itself, such as engine runs, repairs and test procedures performed near a neighbor at night.

Section 92.04 defines noise disturbance as any sound that, as judged by the Enforcement Officer, is an intrusive sound that endangers health or safety, annoys or disturbs reasonable persons of normal sensitivities, or endangers property. Under § 92.37, the officer also weighs the time of day, proximity of residential structures, whether the noise is recurrent, intermittent or constant, the character and zoning of the area, whether it relates to the normal operation of a business, and whether it can be controlled without unreasonable effort or expense.

Enforcement belongs to the Kentucky State Police, the Jessamine County Sheriff's Department, the Nicholasville Police Department, the Wilmore Police Department or any duly elected constitutional peace officer of Jessamine County (§ 92.15(A)). Under § 92.20, noise from farm machinery or other activities relating to an agricultural operation is exempt from the chapter, which matters on a farm with a private airstrip. Anyone needing relief can seek a hardship permit under § 92.16 or a variance under § 92.17, which cannot run longer than 365 days.