Marietta, GA Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

05 establishes the Air Installation Compatible Use Zone, or AICUZ, Overlay District to address noise and accident risk from Dobbins Air Reserve Base. Rather than setting a decibel limit on any single noisy activity, the district works by mapping the area around the airfield into Clear Zones, Accident Potential Zone I, Accident Potential Zone II, and noise contour zones, drawn from the October 2011 Air Installation Compatible Use Zone Study for Dobbins ARB kept on file at the City Clerk's office. 05(C)(4) defines the noise environment as contours of day-night sound levels, or DNL, in excess of 65 decibels, and land use guidelines for what can be built inside those contours are keyed to the compatibility tables in that 2011 study.

The Director of the Department of Development Services determines whether a proposed use is compatible within a specific AICUZ zone, with appeals going to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Properties developed before the ordinance are grandfathered and may rebuild on the same footprint without triggering new AICUZ compliance, so long as neither area nor height increases. New development after adoption is flatly barred from involving hazardous materials, releasing airborne substances that impair visibility, producing light or electrical emissions that interfere with pilots or aircraft systems, or being designed to attract birds or waterfowl.

Height restrictions under FAR Part 77 apply on top of the noise-zone land use rules, and any variance from the district's restrictions requires an application to the Board of Zoning Appeals that includes an official response from the Dobbins ARB Commander.