James City County, VA Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)

Sec. 15-20, the James City County Noise Ordinance, lists construction and landscaping activity among the specific acts it declares plainly audible noise violations in residential zoned districts, structures designated residential on master plans, and mixed-use zoned districts. m. Two exceptions apply: equipment run in the course of emergency work, defined elsewhere in Sec. 15-20(c) as work addressing actual or imminent physical trauma or property damage, and equipment the county administrator has specifically authorized to run during those hours. The county administrator enforces the noise ordinance and can also issue temporary noise permits under Sec.

15-20(d) for a temporary use or activity, subject to conditions the administrator sets and which can be revoked for misrepresentation or an emergency safety condition. Enforcement follows the ordinance's standard warning-then-citation track: an officer gives one oral courtesy warning per day, then a written warning good for 180 days, before issuing a notice of violation if the equipment keeps running past the 15-minute correction window. 00 for a third within 180 days, with a fourth becoming a Class 4 misdemeanor the county can also enjoin.