Canyon County, ID Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Canyon County Code § 07-14-27, Small Wind Energy System, is the only provision in the county's zoning chapter that sets a numeric decibel limit. Subsection (4) caps noise produced by the wind turbine at fifty-five (55) decibels, dBA, measured at the site's property lines. That noise limit is paired with several other siting standards in the same section: no more than one small wind energy system per acre of land, a tower height cap of 35 feet on parcels of five acres or less and 80 feet on larger parcels, a required 100-foot setback from property boundaries for the tower structure and any guy-wire anchors, and a 100-kilowatt system capacity ceiling.

The Director of Development Services reviews wind energy system applications against these standards and can impose additional conditions based on lot size and configuration. Outside this wind-turbine context, Canyon County's code does not set a general decibel limit for other noise sources in unincorporated Canyon County; other noise-related provisions, such as quiet hours in county parks and kennel-noise standards, describe prohibited conduct without assigning a decibel figure. This standard applies only in unincorporated Canyon County, Idaho, not inside Caldwell, Nampa, or the county's other incorporated cities, each of which sets its own noise regulations.