St. Petersburg, FL Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)
Key Facts
- Noise contour restricted
- 65 DNL: no new homes or non-aviation schools
- Repealed rule
- Former airport noise impact area, Ord. 319-H (2018)
- Grandfather clause
- Schools existing before July 1, 1993 exempt
- Obstruction permit radius
- 10 nautical miles of airport reference point
- Administering department
- Planning & Development Services (POD)
Summary
St. Petersburg cannot regulate how loud aircraft are, that field belongs to the FAA, so its code instead controls what gets built near the airport. New residential units and new education facilities are barred within the airport's 65 DNL noise contour under City Code § 16.30.010.6.C, and the city's older, separate airport-noise-impact-area restriction was repealed outright in 2018.
C.New residential units and new education facilities, with the exception of aviation school facilities, shall be prohibited within the boundary of the 65 day-night average sound level ("DNL") contour; however, the prohibition shall not extend more than an area measuring one-half (½) the length of the longest runway on either side of and at the end of each runway centerline.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 54).
Full Breakdown
St. 010, governs land use around the airport rather than aircraft operations themselves, which are federally preempted. C, new residential units and new education facilities, aviation school facilities excepted, are prohibited within the boundary of the 65 day-night average sound level (DNL) noise contour, though that prohibition cannot extend more than half the length of the longest runway on either side of, or at the end of, each runway centerline. Subsection D preserves any educational facility that was already in existence on July 1, 1993, from being forced to remove, alter, or sound-condition its buildings because of this rule.
8 confirms that Ord. No. 8, which 'pertained to restrictions in airport noise impact area and derived from the Code of 1992,' and renumbered the surrounding sections. That repeal means St. Petersburg does not currently maintain a standalone airport-noise-impact-area restriction beyond the 65 DNL construction ban. 10.
Violations & Fines
Building or zoning applications for new houses or non-aviation schools inside the 65 DNL contour are denied by the Planning & Development Services (POD) department outright: there's no variance path described in this section. Structures requiring an airport obstruction permit that go up without one, or that don't install FAA-conforming markers and lights once flagged as nonconforming obstructions, can be required to add markers/lighting at the owner's expense under § 16.30.010.7.C.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does St. Petersburg regulate how loud aircraft can be?
What happened to the city's old airport noise impact area rule?
Can a school be built near the flight path today?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in St. Petersburg
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Aircraft Noise in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Pinellas County handle aircraft noise.