Quiet hours in Chino Hills, CA — also called the noise ordinance, nighttime noise rules, or residential quiet time — define the hours during which excessive noise is prohibited.
Chino Hills sets a nighttime quiet period of 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. During these hours, lower exterior decibel limits apply, and any radio, stereo, TV, or instrument that is plainly audible 25 feet away in a residential zone is prima facie evidence of a violation under Municipal Code Section 16.48.020.
The City of Chino Hills (incorporated 1991, San Bernardino County) does not use a single standalone 'quiet hours' chapter. Instead, its performance-standard noise rule in Municipal Code Section 16.48.020 defines daytime as 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and nighttime as 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., with stricter exterior limits at night. For single-family residential receiving property the exterior limit drops from 60 dBA (day) to 45 dBA (night). Section 16.48.020(F) also caps interior noise reaching a sleeping or living room at 45 dBA from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. and 55 dBA during the day. Separately, Section 16.48.020(G) makes it prima facie evidence of a violation to operate any sound device, radio, musical instrument, television, loudspeaker, or sound amplifier between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. so as to be plainly audible within a residential zone at 25 feet from the source. This is the City of Chino Hills code, not San Bernardino County's code and not the neighboring City of Chino. Because the city adopted its own development-code noise standard, these limits govern locally rather than only the county code.
Noise violations are abated as public nuisances under the Municipal Code. Section 16.48.020 violations are enforced through the city's code enforcement and nuisance abatement process; the nighttime plainly-audible-at-25-feet test gives officers prima facie evidence. Penalties follow the general code-enforcement and infraction provisions (Section 1.36.030 et seq.).
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