Flint, MI Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)

The City of Flint does not run a stand-alone construction curfew. It works through an exemption in Chapter 31, Article II, the Noise Control Ordinance. Section 31-77(f) says the article does not apply to the erection (including excavating), demolition, alteration or repair of any building between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. on weekdays. Inside that window a crew can dig, frame, demolish or repair without being measured against the decibel tables in §§ 31-73 through 31-76 or the noise disturbance ban in § 31-72.

The word weekday is defined in § 31-71 as any day Monday through Friday which is not a legal holiday. Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays therefore fall outside the automatic window. Work on those days, and weekday work before 8:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m., is exempt only if a permit has been secured from the Department of Building and Safety Inspection.

The department issues an after-hours permit on findings. The code lists three: that issuance of the permit is in the interest of public health or safety; that the public health and safety will not be impaired; or that the permit is necessary to avoid substantial loss or inconvenience to an interested party. The three are joined by the word or, so a contractor facing a costly delay can rely on the third, but the department still has to find that fact before the permit issues.

Two definitions in § 31-71 matter. CONSTRUCTION means any site preparation, assembly, erection, substantial repair, alteration or similar action, excluding demolition. DEMOLITION is defined separately as any dismantling, intentional destruction, or removal of structures, utilities, public or private right-of-way surfaces, or similar property. Section 31-77(f) names excavating and demolition alongside erection, alteration and repair, so all of them share the same 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. weekday window. The exemption is written for work on a building.

The same section also carves out domestic tools such as lawn mowers, snowblowers and edgers when they are operated in a manner and frequency that is normal and customary in the community. That is a separate paragraph, (g), and carries no hours limit. Section 31-71 sets daytime at 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and nighttime at 9:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., so the construction window closes an hour before the daytime period does. Once a job runs outside the exemption and without a permit, the whole article applies to it, including the property-line decibel tables.