Rochester, MN Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)

m. m. m. m. Monday. "Construction work" is defined broadly to include any activity incidental to erecting buildings, structures, roads, or flood control facilities, covering land clearing, grading, excavating, and filling, not just hammering and power tools. The code allows two narrow permit routes around the restricted hours. First, § 8-7-8(b)(2) lets a contractor obtain a permit for work during the restricted hours in cases of urgent necessity affecting public health and safety; that permit runs for up to three days at a time, lasts only as long as the necessity continues, and can be renewed in additional three-day increments.

Second, § 8-7-8(b)(3) allows a permit when the work will not impair public health and safety and will cause no loss or inconvenience to any interested party, applied for either when the underlying building permit is issued or while work is already underway. The building inspector issues either permit when a building permit governs the work; the city engineer issues it for everything else, per § 8-7-8(b)(4). Because § 1-2-3(3) makes § 8-7-8 an administrative offense, violations of the restricted hours are typically enforced through an administrative citation and civil fine rather than straight criminal prosecution, though the Code's general misdemeanor penalty in § 1-1-11(c) remains available.