Rancho Cordova, CA Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Chapter 6.68 is the city's general noise ordinance, but it stops short at the runway fence. RCMC § 6.68.090(I) carves out any activity to the extent Chapter 65 of Title 42 of the United States Code, and Articles 3 and 3.5 of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of Division 9 of the California Public Utilities Code, preempt local control over noise and land-use regulation tied to airports and their surrounding areas. That exemption covers noise from the construction, development, manufacture, maintenance, testing or operation of any aircraft engine, and any weapons system or subsystem owned, operated or under the jurisdiction of the United States, plus any other activity preempted by state or federal law.

RCMC § 6.68.090(J) adds a second, narrower exemption for noise from maintenance and operation of aircraft or airports owned or operated by the United States. Read together, the two subsections mean the city's dBA limits, its 55/50 dBA exterior standard, its interior standards, and its enforcement process under § 6.68.190 simply do not reach aircraft engine noise or federally-owned airport operations. This matters directly for Rancho Cordova because Mather Airport sits inside city limits but is owned and operated by Sacramento County, not the city, so airport noise complaints go to the airport operator and to the Federal Aviation Administration's regulatory framework, not to the Rancho Cordova health officer or police department that field ordinary Chapter 6.68 complaints.