Sarasota, FL Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Chapter 20, the City of Sarasota's Sound Control Ordinance, generally prohibits unreasonable sound (Sec. 20-4) and sets maximum decibel levels for continuous and impulsive noise sources (Sec. 20-5), but Sec. 20-7 opens with 'The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to:' and then lists 22 categories of exempt sound. Item 10 covers aircraft: any aircraft operating in conformity with federal law, federal air regulations, and air traffic control instructions used within duly adopted federal air regulations is carved out entirely. That exemption is conditional, not blanket: it applies only while the aircraft is actually operating within those federal rules and ATC instructions.

The chapter's definitions section, Sec. 20-3, independently shows the city treats aviation as a separate governmental sphere: it defines 'governmental agency' to expressly include the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport Authority alongside the state, the county and the city, and it exempts 'governmental agency' road, construction and sponsored-activity noise elsewhere in Sec. 20-7. Sec. 20-7's closing sentence adds that exempted uses and activities 'shall be required to comply with the provisions of all other applicable ordinances of the city and laws of the state,' meaning aircraft operators still answer to other applicable city and state law, just not to Chapter 20's noise standards.

Because federal law occupies aircraft-in-flight noise regulation and Sec. 20-7(10) recognizes that, the City of Sarasota has written itself out of that authority rather than adopting a local decibel or curfew standard for planes. There is accordingly no Sarasota code section setting hours, decibel caps, or a permit process for aircraft noise, and none of the definitions, warning procedures, or special-magistrate fine schedule in Sec. 20-8 and Sec. 20-9 can be applied to a flight that stays within FAA rules and air traffic control direction.