College Station, TX Noise Ordinances: Leaf Blower Rules (2026)

College Station has not adopted an ordinance targeting leaf blowers as equipment, and gas powered blowers are widely used in town. What limits a blower is the noise it makes. Running one during the city's quiet hours would violate the general noise ordinance, and behind that sits the state disorderly conduct statute, Texas Penal Code Sec. 01. Under subsection (a)(5), a person commits an offense by intentionally or knowingly making unreasonable noise in a public place, or in or near a private residence the person has no right to occupy.

Each prong can reach blower use: a blower run on a street or sidewalk is noise in a public place, and a blower loud at a neighboring home is noise near a private residence the operator has no right to occupy. Subsection (c)(2) supplies the measuring stick. Noise is presumed unreasonable when it exceeds a level of 85 decibels after the person making it receives notice from a magistrate or peace officer that the noise is a public nuisance. The sequence matters: the official warning comes first, and only continued noise above 85 decibels after that notice triggers the presumption.

The statute's listed carve outs are sport shooting ranges and lawfully conducted space flight activities; lawn equipment gets no similar exemption. Texas has not enacted equipment level restrictions on blowers, and air quality is handled at the state level by TCEQ.