Valencia County, NM Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

153 regulates land use around Valencia County's public-use airports to protect airspace and limit noise conflicts, adopted in part under the Municipal Airport Zoning Law, NMSA 1978, §§ 3-39-16 et seq. Subsection (F), the Air Noise Impact Zone, defines that zone as the area contiguous to a public-use airport measuring half the length of the longest active runway on either side and off each end of every active runway centerline. Inside that zone, developers of child care facilities, transient lodgings, educational centers and residential uses must verify to the county in writing that a proposed building is designed to achieve an outdoor-to-indoor noise level reduction (NLR) of at least 25 decibels; the code notes that normal residential construction typically reaches an NLR of 20 to 25 decibels on its own.

The same 25-decibel standard applies to hospitals, homes for the aged, places of worship, auditoriums and concert halls under (F)(2), and to outdoor sports arenas and spectator facilities under (F)(3). Instead of certifying the 25-decibel design, a developer may record an aviation easement granting the airport owner or operator the right to continue operating as it does now despite noise effects on nearby new uses; the easement must be in a form the county attorney's office accepts and must be recorded before the site plan is released, the final plat recorded, or the building permit issued, whichever applies. The requirement does not apply where the site's own ambient noise from non-aircraft sources already equals or exceeds aircraft noise. 062.