Evanston, IL Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

City Code § 9-5-20(C) works in two layers. The first is the ordinary building-work window: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, with work outside those hours requiring a City Manager permit for urgent necessity. The second layer is a loudness cap. The quoted clause prohibits "any other construction noise" exceeding a decibel level of eighty (80) during three windows: between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. on weekdays, between 6:00 p.m. Friday and 8:00 a.m. Saturday, and between 5:00 p.m. Saturday and 7:00 a.m. Monday.

The reading is taken from the property line of the lot the noise is emanating from, not from a neighbor's window or the middle of the street. A contractor checking compliance in Evanston therefore measures at the edge of the job site itself.

The two layers overlap in a way that matters on weekday evenings. Building work may continue until 9 p.m., but the 80 decibel cap begins at 6:00 p.m., so the last stretch of a weekday shift has to stay at or below that level. On Saturdays the cap lifts at 8:00 a.m., the same hour work may begin, and returns at 5:00 p.m., the same hour work must end. The Saturday evening window then runs straight through to 7:00 a.m. Monday, which places all of Sunday inside the capped period.

The clause does not ban quiet work by its own terms. Its trigger is the measured level, and the only stated way around it is special permission granted by the City Manager or his/her designee.