West Palm Beach, FL Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Section 34-43 lists 22 categories of noise the city has chosen not to regulate under chapter 34, article II, and aircraft appear twice. Item (6) exempts locomotives, railroad equipment and aircraft from the noise article's requirements 'to the extent that city regulation is preempted by federal law,' recognizing that federal aviation noise standards occupy the field, leaving the city without authority to set its own limits on flight operations. Item (17) goes further and exempts 'all noises coming from the normal operations of an aircraft' outright, without the federal-preemption qualifier attached to item (6).

Both exemptions apply across the whole article: they excuse aircraft noise from the general noise-disturbance prohibition in § 34-36, the special entertainment district decibel limits in § 34-37, the health care facility quiet-zone rule in § 34-40, and the enforcement and penalty provisions in §§ 34-44 and 34-45. Practically, that means a resident near Palm Beach International Airport who complains about jet or helicopter noise to the city's noise control officers will not get a citation issued against the aircraft operator under this chapter; airport and flight-path noise is instead the subject of federal aviation regulation and any noise-abatement programs run through Palm Beach International Airport itself, not city code enforcement.