Milpitas, CA Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Events (2026)

Amplified music is one of the most explicit targets of Milpitas's noise chapter. Section V-213-2.04 defines 'Disturbing Noise' to expressly include 'the use, operation, playing of any radio, television, musical instrument or instruments, phonograph, stereo, loud speaker, sound amplifier or other device for the production or reproduction of sound with louder volume than is necessary for hearing for any person or persons who are in the room, vehicle or chamber in which such machine or device is operated and who are voluntary listeners thereto.' Once amplified sound rises to a disturbing noise, the residential controls in V-213-3 apply: in residential zones it may not increase the noise exposure level by 3 dB over local ambient or exceed 65 dB at the property line, whichever is more restrictive (V-213-3.01/3.02). The quiet-hours prima-facie test in V-213-3.03 also applies - amplified music audible 50 feet from the property line between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. (100 feet for a moving source) is presumptively a violation; the daytime threshold is 100 feet. For chronic party noise, V-213-10 lets the city recover the cost of 'extraordinary police services' from the host (or a minor's parents) when officers must return to a loud or unruly assemblage after a first warning.