Hillsboro, OR Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

HMC 6.24.010 sets the baseline: it is unlawful for anyone to make, assist in making, allow or perpetuate the continuance of any unauthorized, disturbing or unnecessary noise anywhere in Hillsboro, day or night. HMC 6.24.040 then lists specific acts that become violations once they exceed the decibel limits set elsewhere in the noise subchapter, and subsection (E) singles out construction-type activity for a hard nighttime curfew: erection, excavation, demolition, alteration or repair of a building on or near a residential or business district is barred between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. the following day. The only exception is urgent necessity in the interest of public safety, and even then the contractor or owner needs a permit issued by the City Manager, capped at 3 days or the duration of the emergency, whichever ends first.

Complaints are measured, not just judged by ear: HMC 6.24.020 requires the City to use a Type I or Type II sound level meter with an A-weighted scale and both fast and slow response settings, placed at the property line of the complaining property closest to the noise source, and operated only by someone trained on that meter and procedure. Daytime construction is not curfewed the same way; a separate exception elsewhere in HMC 6.24.050 treats industrial, agricultural and construction sounds between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. differently, so the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. window in subsection (E) is where Hillsboro draws its firm construction-noise line. A violation is enforced under the City's general penalty at HMC 1.08.010(B), a $500.00 fine, with HMC 1.08.030 treating each day of a continuing violation as a separate offense.