Yakima, WA Noise Ordinances: Industrial Noise (2026)

Yakima's industrial base has narrowed since the 2006 closure of the Boise Cascade lumber mill (the ~225-acre former mill site is now the Cascade Mill District redevelopment project east of downtown along East Yakima Avenue). Active industrial concentrations include the food-processing corridor along North 1st Street / North 16th Avenue and the West Valley industrial parks, plus warehouse and logistics activity along the BNSF rail corridor and I-82. Industrial noise enforcement layers three frameworks: (1) YMC Chapter 6.04 public-disturbance-noise standard - industrial sound that by intensity, volume, frequency, duration or character unreasonably disturbs the peace, comfort and repose of others is a misdemeanor regardless of zoning. (2) WAC 173-60-040 source-to-receiving-class dBA matrix - sounds originating in a Class C (industrial) EDNA cannot exceed 70 dBA at a Class C receiving property, 65 dBA at a Class B (commercial) receiving property, or 60 dBA at a Class A (residential) receiving property, measured at the receiving property line. (3) Class A receiving property is reduced by 10 dBA (to 50 dBA) between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Industrial sources are subject to additional WAC 173-60-050 exemptions for facilities operating 15+ hours daily for three consecutive years (legacy operation protection). Agricultural operations - including frost-protection wind machines (manufactured locally by Yakima-based Orchard-Rite, which produces 70%+ of the world's frost-fan supply), harvest equipment, sprayers, and tractors in the surrounding Yakima Valley orchards and vineyards - receive an effective exemption through the WAC 173-60-050 framework that exempts sounds from agricultural activities. The Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency (YRCAA) regulates air emissions from industrial sources but does not enforce noise. YMC Title 15 (Urban Area Zoning Ordinance) and the Yakima Urban Area Comprehensive Plan impose buffer-yard and screening requirements at the boundary between industrial M-1 (Light Industrial) / M-2 (Heavy Industrial) zones and adjacent residential parcels, plus project-specific site-plan conditions imposed during binding-site-plan or conditional-use review.