Quiet hours in Santa Cruz, CA — also called the noise ordinance, nighttime noise rules, or residential quiet time — define the hours during which excessive noise is prohibited.
Santa Cruz prohibits any offensive noise between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. that is made within 100 feet of a building used for sleeping or that disturbs anyone within hearing distance.
Santa Cruz Municipal Code (SCMC) 9.36.010(a) establishes the citywide nighttime noise curfew. Between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., no person may make, cause, suffer or permit any 'offensive noise' that is either (1) made within one hundred feet of any building or place regularly used for sleeping, or (2) that disturbs or would tend to disturb any person within hearing distance. 'Offensive noise' is defined broadly in 9.36.010(b) as any noise that is loud, boisterous, irritating, penetrating, or unusual, or unreasonably distracting, such that it is likely to disturb people nearby. Outside curfew hours, daytime noise is still regulated under SCMC 9.36.020 (unreasonably disturbing noises). Under 9.36.040, an officer does not need a scientific decibel reading to issue a citation.
First offense is an infraction; under SCMC 9.36.030, a repeat violation of the same section within 48 hours of being cited is a misdemeanor.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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