San Benito County, CA Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Aircraft and airport noise is the one category where San Benito County has little independent authority. Federal law occupies most of the field: the Noise Control Act of 1972 and the Federal Aviation Act give the FAA control over aircraft operations, flight paths, and airspace, and the U.S. Supreme Court held in City of Burbank v. Lockheed Air Terminal (1973) that local governments are preempted from regulating aircraft noise through their police power. The Airport Noise and Capacity Act (ANCA) further limits local airport-noise restrictions, allowing them only through narrow statutory exceptions or an FAA-approved process. Because of that preemption, the County's Noise Control Regulations (Chapter 19.39) do not set decibel limits on overflying aircraft. At the state level, California regulates airport noise through the Caltrans Division of Aeronautics under the Airport Noise Standards in Title 21 of the California Code of Regulations, which apply to airports operating under a state permit and use the Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL) metric; the County where an airport sits helps enforce the state-adopted standards but does not set its own aircraft-noise limits. In San Benito County, Hollister Municipal Airport (owned by the City of Hollister) is the primary public airfield; aircraft noise around it and over the unincorporated county is principally a federal/state matter handled through the airport proprietor, the FAA, and Caltrans Aeronautics rather than County Code Enforcement. Ground-based noise at an airport - fixed mechanical equipment or amplified sound - can still fall under the County's ordinary noise rules, but flight operations do not. Residents with persistent overflight concerns generally pursue them through the airport operator's complaint process and the FAA, not the County ordinance.