Sutter County, CA Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Sutter County does not regulate industrial or stationary-source noise through an enforceable decibel ordinance. The 2010 CPUC noise study confirms the county has not adopted a noise ordinance, so there is no code table setting maximum dBA levels for factories, processing plants, pumps, or mechanical equipment at the property line the way some counties do. Instead, industrial noise is addressed primarily at the front end, through the General Plan noise element and the county's land-use/CEQA review when new industrial or commercial uses are proposed. The General Plan's stated goal is to protect county residences from excessive noise by not permitting new noise-sensitive uses where ambient noise would exceed acceptable limits, and the planning process can impose project-specific noise conditions (setbacks, hours, equipment shielding, or noise studies) on a new industrial use as conditions of approval.

This means the control over industrial noise is exercised case by case during permitting rather than through a standing ordinance that an existing facility's neighbor can cite. For an existing operation generating a genuine disturbance, the available state-law tools are nuisance law and California Penal Code 415 for loud and unreasonable noise. Stationary-source air emissions are separately regulated by the Feather River Air Quality Management District, but that agency governs air quality, not noise.