Walla Walla County, WA Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Chapter 9.20 of the Walla Walla County Code regulates most sound sources with the district-based decibel table in § 9.20.030 and the public disturbance noise list in § 9.20.050, but it carves aircraft out of both. Section 9.20.060 lists 'sounds exempt at all times,' opening with subsection A: 'Sounds originating from aircraft in flight and sounds which originate at airports and are directly related to flight operations.' That blanket exemption covers takeoffs, landings and other flight operations at any airport in the unincorporated county. Section 9.20.070 separately lists daytime-exempt sounds, and subsection D exempts 'sounds created by aircraft testing and maintenance,' but narrows the start time: the exemption 'shall begin at six a.m. daily,' one hour earlier than the 5 a.m. start that applies to most other daytime-exempt sounds such as construction and utility work.

Read together, the two sections mean the county's noise ordinance imposes no decibel limit, time restriction or citation exposure for aircraft in flight, airport flight operations, or ground aircraft testing and maintenance after 6 a.m. Because Chapter 9.20 is the county's only general noise ordinance, and neither section carries any exception to the exemption, a resident near an airstrip in unincorporated Walla Walla County has no local noise-code remedy against normal aircraft or airport operations; any complaint would have to proceed under state or federal aviation noise standards rather than county code.