Alpine County, CA Noise Ordinances: Leaf Blower Rules (2026)

Alpine County Code Section 18.68.090 contains no provision singling out leaf blowers, gas-powered garden equipment, or yard tools, and there is no separate ban or hours rule for them in the County code. Leaf blowing is treated as ordinary property maintenance. Under the code's exemptions, 'usual and customary activities associated with the use and maintenance of residential property' — explicitly including home and property maintenance — are exempt from the decibel limits when they occur between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. A parallel exemption covers usual commercial property maintenance, including grounds maintenance, between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. So a leaf blower used during daytime maintenance hours is generally exempt; the same equipment used very early or late at night would need to keep parcel-line sound within the zone limit and could otherwise be cited. The code is also designed to supplement California Penal Code Sections 370 and 415, and it warns that even an exempt activity may still be a public nuisance or disturbing the peace. Note that statewide, the California Air Resources Board has phased out the sale of new gas-powered small off-road engines (which includes many leaf blowers) beginning in 2024, but that is an emissions/sales rule, not a County noise ordinance — Alpine County itself imposes no leaf-blower noise limit beyond the general standard.