Kalamazoo, MI Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Section 21-22 lists five categories the City's noise chapter doesn't reach, and aircraft is the last one: subsection E exempts flights of aircraft which are in all respects conducted in accordance with, or pursuant to, federal law, federal air regulations and air traffic control instructions. The same section also exempts law enforcement and governmental agencies engaged in lawful activities, emergency work for public safety and welfare, authorized warning devices like vehicle backup alarms, and parades, fairs, circuses and sanctioned sporting events. The exemption exists because aircraft noise is governed by the Federal Aviation Administration and federal air traffic control, not municipal police power, so Kalamazoo's dB(A) limits in § 21-7, its general disturbance prohibition in § 21-6, and every other Article II noise rule stop short of reaching flights operated within FAA rules.

A flight that strays outside federal rules and regulations, for example unauthorized low-altitude activity that isn't 'in all respects' compliant with air traffic control instructions, would fall outside the exemption's wording and could theoretically be reached by the chapter's general nuisance and noise provisions, though enforcement against aircraft operations in practice runs through federal channels, not the City Manager's noise-control staff described in § 21-5C. There is no separate airport-specific noise ordinance in Chapter 21; the City's role is limited to this blanket carve-out rather than any independent decibel standard for aircraft.