Springfield, OR Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Springfield Municipal Code Section 5.220, enforced by the Springfield Police Department in Lane County, Oregon, makes it unlawful to create or permit any noise unreasonable in volume or duration and then names acts that are per se violations regardless of measured loudness. Mechanical devices operated by compressed air or steam cannot run between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. unless effectively muffled, and building construction, excavation, demolition, or repair is barred during those same overnight hours. A repair garage within 100 feet of a dwelling or hotel cannot emit loud or offensive noise between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.

Amplified sound from a piano, phonograph, radio, loudspeaker, or stereo is a violation if it is 'plainly audible' inside any other dwelling, church, business, day care center, or school, or if it carries 150 feet or more onto public property or a public right-of-way without written government authorization. Keeping an animal whose continuous noise disturbs neighbors for more than 15 minutes, audible past the property line, is also a per se violation. The code carves out exceptions: compressed-air equipment in industrial zones, emergency vehicles, burglar or fire alarms sounding no more than 15 minutes, disaster-recovery work, school or city athletic event sound systems, and utility crews maintaining public infrastructure.

A resident or business wanting to exceed these limits for an event, such as amplified music, must apply to the city manager or designee for a special noise permit at least 30 days before the event; the permit can be revoked at any time, and a denial or revocation may be appealed in writing to the Springfield City Council, which must set a hearing within 15 days. Separately, SMC Section 5.062 bars unreasonable noise inside the city library.