Pismo Beach, CA Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

Chapter 9.24 has no single curfew ordinance. It sets a general standard and then names specific activities with hours. Section 9.24.040(A) makes it unlawful to wilfully or negligently make or continue any noise that disturbs the peace and quiet of any neighborhood or causes discomfort or annoyance to a reasonable person of normal sensitivity. Section 9.24.050(A) prohibits any noise disturbance plainly audible at a distance of fifty feet from the noisemaker, but not noise that stays within the noisemaker's own premises.

The ten p.m. to seven a.m. rules are in § 9.24.050(B). Loading, unloading, opening, closing or other handling of boxes, crates, containers, building materials or similar objects cannot cause a noise disturbance across a residential or visitor serving real property line. Mechanically powered saws, sanders, drills, grinders, and lawn or garden tools are barred between ten p.m. and seven a.m. when they create a noise disturbance across a residential or commercial property line. Radios and loudspeakers follow the same window. Powered model vehicles have a seven p.m. to seven a.m. window. Construction and demolition tools are barred between weekday hours of seven p.m. and seven a.m. and at any time on Sundays or holidays, except emergency work of public service utilities or by exception.

Other clocks in the chapter: emergency signaling devices cannot be tested before seven a.m. or after seven p.m., and refuse collection is barred between seven p.m. and six-thirty a.m. near homes. Table 1 in § 9.24.060 sets exterior limits not to be exceeded more than thirty minutes in any hour: fifty dBA from ten p.m. to seven a.m. and fifty-five dBA from seven a.m. to ten p.m. in residential categories, and sixty and sixty-five dBA in commercial zones.

The noise control officer can grant exceptions under § 9.24.100. Those under forty-eight hours come from the chief of police or a designee, longer ones from the community development director, and no exception runs longer than one hundred eight days. Outdoor gatherings, public dances, shows and sporting events held under a city permit or license are exempt under § 9.24.090(C).