Medford, OR Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)

Medford Code 5.225(1) makes it unlawful to make, continue, cause, or permit a noise disturbance, and lists construction work as one of several enumerated violations that are not exclusive of others. Subsection (1)(e) specifically targets building work: "Alteration, demolition, erection, or repair of any structure between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m." That leaves a daytime construction window of 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., seven days a week, with no separate weekend carve-out in the text. The same section also restricts mechanically powered lawn equipment, garden tools, chainsaws, and blowers between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in residential zones or within 300 feet of a dwelling (5.225(1)(f)), and bars idling trucks over 10,000 pounds GVW overnight (5.225(1)(d)), so a construction site running heavy equipment overnight risks stacking violations.

The City Manager or a designee may grant an exception to the 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. construction restriction under 5.225(1)(e) if the manager determines the public interest requires it or that no one in the area would be disturbed by the work. The ordinance also declares in subsection (2) that its noise regulations are drafted to be content-neutral so as not to infringe on constitutionally protected expression, and subsection (3) defines "plainly audible" for the sound-equipment provisions elsewhere in the section.