Washington County, OR Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

619 and OAR 660-013-0070/0080. Section 388-3 requires the county to delineate the airport's noise impact boundary, runway, approach surface and related imaginary surfaces on the Rural/Natural Resource Plan Map, and every parcel touching those boundaries is subject to the overlay's standards. A: within the mapped noise impact boundary, land uses must be established consistent with the levels in OAR 660, Division 13, Exhibit 5, and any Standard Subdivision, Standard Partition, other land use approval or building permit affecting that land must carry a declaration of anticipated noise levels.

Where the anticipated level reaches or exceeds 55 LDN, an applicant seeking a permit to build a 'noise sensitive land use,' defined in the Code as real property normally used for sleeping or as a school, religious institution, hospital or public library, must demonstrate before permit issuance that the building design incorporates a noise abatement strategy achieving an indoor noise level of 55 LDN or less. Section 388-6 layers on a companion procedural requirement: any Type II or III application inside the overlay must submit a map showing the property relative to the airport's imaginary surfaces, scaled elevation profiles and a site plan, and, if a height variance is sought, letters of support or 'no impact' from the airport sponsor, the Oregon Department of Aviation and the FAA.

Section 388-4 requires written notice of land use applications in the overlay, including comprehensive plan amendments, to go to both the airport sponsor and the Department of Aviation. The overlay's reach is narrow: Section 388-2 currently applies it only to the area around Stark's Twin Oaks Airpark, not county-wide, though the Code allows it to extend to other public-use airports the Department of Aviation later identifies as needing this protection.