Vacaville, CA Public Conduct: Loud Party Ordinance (2026)

Vacaville's approach to disruptive gatherings is to enforce against the underlying conduct (noise, alcohol service to minors, occupancy violation, public-safety hazard) rather than through a city-specific 'party house' or 'unruly gathering' fine schedule. Three Vacaville Municipal Code chapters do the operative work. First, Chapter 8.10 (Abatement of Public Nuisance) declares loud, unusual, or unnecessary noise to be a nuisance under the reasonable-person standard in Section 8.10.030, with stricter nighttime limits (10 p.m.-6 a.m. weekdays, 10 p.m.-8 a.m. Sundays) for equipment, construction, and similar activities within 500 feet of an occupied residence. Second, Chapter 9.20 (Abatement of Community Safety Violations) declares it a community safety violation to suffer, permit, or host a disturbance at a party or gathering where alcohol or drugs are consumed or accessible to the gathering, or to allow the occupancy load to exceed the permitted number within a public assembly (as established by the California Building Code) at which alcohol or drugs are being consumed or accessible; violations are subject to administrative citations and abatement under Chapter 1.28. Third, Chapter 9.61 (Social Host Ordinance) prohibits any person from suffering, permitting, or hosting a party, gathering, or event at their residence or other private property, or at a public place under their control, where a minor (defined as any person less than 21 years of age) obtains, possesses, or consumes alcoholic beverages; Section 9.61 declares such a gathering a public nuisance subject to summary abatement and administrative procedures, and imposes joint and several liability for administrative fines and response costs on the host (and on the parents or guardians of a juvenile host, irrespective of their knowledge of the event or of the alcohol consumption). Active disturbances are responded to by the Vacaville Police Department; pattern complaints and cost-recovery proceedings are pursued by Code Enforcement (Fire Department, Community Risk Reduction) through administrative citation under Chapter 1.28. Because Vacaville does not authorize short-term rentals in residential zones, party enforcement at a transient rental address layers underlying zoning enforcement under Title 14 on top of these three chapters.