Grand Forks, ND Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)

Section 10-0502(2)(C)(1) of the Grand Forks City Code prohibits operating or permitting the operation of any tools or equipment used in construction, drilling, or demolition work between 10:00 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. the following day on weekdays, or at any time on Sundays or holidays, if the sound creates a noise disturbance across a residential real property boundary. The article carves out two exceptions in the same sentence: emergency work performed by the city or by public service utilities, and work covered by a special variance issued under section 10-0505.

A separate rule at subsection (2)(C)(2) applies the identical 10:00 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. weekday window to principal arterial roadway construction, repair or maintenance, carrying over the same residential-boundary trigger and the same emergency and variance exceptions. Section 10-0507(10) defines a 'principal arterial roadway' as a street officially classified as such on the map adopted by the city and the Metropolitan Planning Organization, so the roadway clause does not reach ordinary residential or collector streets. Section 10-0505 requires a written application to the Grand Forks City Health Department, city council approval, and lets the council revoke or modify a granted variance after a public hearing on at least twenty days' notice.

A violation is enforced under the same section 10-0506 penalty as the rest of the noise article: up to $500, with each day of continuing construction noise treated as its own offense.