Costa Mesa, CA Public Conduct: Loud Party Ordinance (2026)

Adopted by Ordinance No. 91-26 in October 1991 as Chapter IX 1/2 of Title 11, this ordinance targets repeat problem parties rather than punishing noise on the first call. Section 11-170 defines a large party, gathering or event broadly to include any assembled group on private residential or commercial property, from a backyard gathering to a bar, nightclub, pool hall, restaurant, theatre or fairgrounds event, and defines person responsible for the event as the property owner, the person in charge of the premises, or the event's organizer; if that person is a minor, the minor's parents or guardians become jointly and severally liable.

Under section 11-171, the ordinance is triggered only after a first written warning: if officers return to the same location within 30 days for a special security assignment, meaning a second response needed to control the same threat to public peace, health, safety or general welfare, the person responsible becomes liable for the cost of that police response. That return call can also lead to arrest or citation for any state penal code or other local violations discovered on scene. Section 11-172 caps the police services fee, covering personnel and equipment costs, at an amount set by city council resolution, but the city expressly reserves the right to seek reimbursement for its actual costs whenever they exceed $500.

Unpaid fees become a debt collectible from the responsible person, or their parents if a minor, through a city civil action that can also recover the city's attorneys' fees.