Alpine County, CA Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Alpine County's noise ordinance (Code Section 18.68.090) does not include any aircraft- or airport-specific provision, and the County's parcel-line decibel limits are not applied to overflights. This reflects the broader legal framework: in California, aircraft and airport noise is regulated at the state and federal level, not by individual counties' nuisance codes. The State Aeronautics Act, Public Utilities Code Section 21669, directs the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to adopt noise standards governing the operation of aircraft and aircraft engines for permitted airports 'to an extent not prohibited by federal law,' based on the level of noise acceptable to a reasonable person living near the airport. Caltrans implements this through the airport noise standards in Title 21 of the California Code of Regulations, sections 5000 through 5080.5, and the statute makes it the function of the county where an airport is situated to enforce the state noise regulations for that airport. Above this sits federal preemption: the FAA controls navigable airspace, flight paths and aircraft-source noise, which is why local governments cannot set their own in-flight aircraft noise limits. Alpine County is largely National Forest and high-Sierra terrain with no major commercial airport, so in practice aircraft-noise complaints are matters for state and federal authorities rather than the County code.