Pismo Beach, CA Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)

The rule sits in section 9.24.050 B 5 of the Pismo Beach Municipal Code, inside the noise control chapter. Paragraph a bars operating or causing the operation of any tools or equipment used in construction, drilling, repair, alteration or demolition work between weekday hours of seven p.m. and seven a.m., or any time on Sundays or holidays. The evening cutoff is seven p.m., three hours earlier than the ten p.m. quiet hour that applies to loud music and to lawn and garden tools. The bar applies only when the sound creates a noise disturbance across a residential or commercial real property line.

Section 9.24.020 defines construction as any site preparation, assembly, erection, substantial repair, alteration or similar action for or of public or private rights-of-way, structures, utilities or similar property. Demolition is any dismantling, intentional destruction or removal of structures, utilities, public or private right-of-way surfaces, or similar property.

Two carve-outs are printed in paragraph a: emergency work of public service utilities, and an exception issued by the noise control officer. Homeowner tools are handled elsewhere. The paragraph says it does not apply to domestic power tools as specified in subsection B 8, although the domestic power tools rule is printed at B 9 and bars saws, sanders, drills, grinders and lawn or garden tools between ten p.m. and seven a.m.

Paragraph b adds a noise schedule that applies where technically and economically feasible. Maximum levels differ for mobile equipment in nonscheduled, intermittent, short-term operation of less than ten days, and for stationary equipment in repetitively scheduled operation of ten days or more. Residential columns cover single-family, multi-family and mixed residential and commercial properties, with lower maximums from seven p.m. to seven a.m. and all day Sunday and legal holidays. At business properties, mobile equipment is capped at 85 dBA and stationary equipment at 75 dBA, all hours, every day including Sundays and legal holidays. Internal combustion engine equipment must carry suitable exhaust and air-take silencers in proper working order.

Section 9.24.090 D exempts construction and demolition from the Table 1 exterior limits in section 9.24.060, so the B 5 schedule is the measuring standard for this work.