Pico Rivera, CA Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Pico Rivera Municipal Code § 9.12.030, sitting in Chapter 9.12 (Offenses Against Public Peace), defines "aircraft" broadly: balloons whether fixed or free, kites, airships or flying machines. Under subsection B, it is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to fly or cause to be flown any such aircraft at a distance of less than four hundred feet above the ground, with the sole exception of an aircraft that is actively ascending from or descending to the ground. The rule traces back to the city's prior code §§ 4211 and 4211.1, adopted well before modern FAA drone rules existed, and it still governs any low-altitude flight over Pico Rivera regardless of whether the device is remotely piloted.

Because the ordinance sits in the general public-peace chapter rather than a zoning or airport chapter, it applies citywide, including over the Pico Rivera Sports Arena and the neighborhoods bordering the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel Rivers. Enforcement in the City of Pico Rivera falls to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Pico Rivera Station, which patrols under contract, and to the city's Community Preservation staff for complaints. Because Chapter 9.12 carries no section-specific penalty of its own, a violation defaults to the citywide general penalty in Pico Rivera Municipal Code § 1.20.010: a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to one thousand dollars, up to six months in county jail, or both, with prosecutors free to charge it instead as an infraction. Each day a violation continues can be charged as a separate offense under § 1.20.010(D).