Unincorporated Lake County does not ban leaf blowers. Under Section 41.11(e)(6) of the County Zoning Code Performance Standards, lawn and plant care machinery fitted with correctly functioning sound suppression equipment is exempt from the noise standards when operated between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Outside those hours, the property-line decibel limits apply.
Lake County has no leaf-blower prohibition. Instead, the Zoning Code Performance Standards (Sec. 21-41) address yard equipment through an exemption. Section 41.11(e)(6) exempts 'lawn and plant care machinery fitted with correctly functioning sound suppression equipment and operated between 7:00 am and 8:00 pm' from the local noise standards, provided reasonable practices are followed. This covers leaf blowers, mowers, trimmers, and similar gas or electric equipment. The two-part condition matters: the equipment must have working noise-suppression (a functioning muffler or factory sound housing), and use must fall within the 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. window. Lawn equipment operated outside that window, or without functioning sound suppression, loses the exemption and is subject to the receiving-property-line decibel limits in Tables 11.1 and 11.2 (for example, 45 dBA at a residential property line after 10:00 p.m.) and can be treated as a public nuisance under Chapter 13 if it disturbs the neighborhood. These rules apply only in the unincorporated areas; the cities of Lakeport and Clearlake set their own rules.
Using lawn or leaf-blowing equipment outside the 7 a.m.-8 p.m. window, or without functioning sound suppression, removes the Section 41.11 exemption and the noise becomes subject to the property-line limits and to Chapter 13 nuisance abatement (infraction/misdemeanor up to $500 per §13-44, or administrative penalties of $100/$200/$500 per §13-51).
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See how Lake County's leaf blower rules rules stack up against other locations.
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