Sutter County, CA Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)

In the unincorporated areas of Sutter County, there is no county code section setting permitted construction start and stop times or limiting which days heavy equipment may operate. The 2010 noise study prepared for the California Public Utilities Commission, evaluating Butte, Yuba, and Sutter counties, states directly that "Sutter County has not adopted a noise ordinance, and noise due to construction activity is not addressed." The same study notes that federal and state laws do not regulate temporary construction noise either, observing that "this type of noise is generally regulated at the local or county level" — and Sutter County has not done so by ordinance. For contrast, neighboring Yuba County does regulate construction noise (its Chapter 8.20 restricts equipment within 500 feet of residential zones between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.), which highlights that Sutter County's lack of such a rule is a real difference, not an oversight on this page. Where construction noise becomes a problem in unincorporated Sutter County, the available remedies are the General Plan's noise-compatibility review for new projects (applied through the planning/CEQA process at Development Services) and California Penal Code 415, which addresses loud and unreasonable noise that maliciously and willfully disturbs others. Project-specific conditions of approval may also impose construction-hour limits on a particular development even though no blanket ordinance exists.