Calaveras County, CA Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)

Section 9.02.060.D of the Calaveras County Code carves construction noise out of Chapter 9.02's general prohibitions, but only within a defined daytime window. Construction activity in or adjacent to residential areas is limited to the hours between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., unless the project is subject to different conditions imposed through a valid discretionary land use permit that specifically addresses construction noise. Outside that window, or without a permit condition displacing it, construction noise is not exempt and falls back under the general decibel standards of § 9.02.030's Table 1.

The exemption interacts directly with § 9.02.030.A, which separately provides that construction equipment used in connection with construction operations is not subject to the Table 1 decibel limits at all, so long as all the provisions of § 9.02.060.D, meaning the 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. window, are met. Together the two sections mean a contractor working within the daytime hours is exempt from the decibel table entirely, while a contractor running equipment before 7:00 a.m. or after 6:00 p.m. loses the construction exemption and must comply with the ordinary residential, commercial or industrial dBA limits for that time of day, which at night can be as low as 50 dBA for residential property. Enforcement runs through the county sheriff as Noise Control Officer across the unincorporated county; Angels Camp, the only incorporated city, applies its own code.