Kennewick has not codified short-term-rental-specific quiet hours or party-house provisions. STR guests are subject to the city's general public-disturbance noise rules in the Kennewick Municipal Code and to the statewide Washington noise standards in RCW Chapter 70.107 and WAC Chapter 173-60. Nighttime maximum environmental noise levels in residential zones drop by 10 dBA between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. under WAC 173-60-040. Active disturbances are handled by Kennewick Police; pattern complaints by Code Enforcement.
Because Kennewick has not adopted a dedicated short-term rental chapter, an STR is subject to the same noise framework as any other Kennewick dwelling. Two layers apply. First, the Kennewick Municipal Code's public-disturbance-noise provisions, codified in the city's nuisance and public-peace chapters and accessible through the Code Publishing portal, prohibit frequently repeated or continuous sounds that unreasonably disturb the peace, including loud parties, amplified music audible at the property line, and motor-vehicle horn or sound-system noise. Second, the Washington Department of Ecology's environmental-noise rules in WAC Chapter 173-60, adopted under the authority of RCW Chapter 70.107, set maximum permissible environmental noise levels measured at the receiving property based on the Environmental Designation for Noise Abatement (EDNA) classification of the receiving zone. For a Class A EDNA receiving property (residential), the daytime maximum is 55 dBA from a Class A source, 57 dBA from Class B, and 60 dBA from Class C; between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. all of those limits drop by 10 dBA at residential receivers (WAC 173-60-040). Short exceedances are tolerated: WAC 173-60-040(2) permits sounds 5 dBA over the limit for a total of 15 minutes in any hour, 10 dBA over for 5 minutes, and 15 dBA over for 1.5 minutes. There is no STR-specific posted-quiet-hours requirement, no automatic license-suspension trigger on a noise complaint, and no codified Kennewick 'three strikes' party-house rule, because no STR license exists to suspend.
Public-disturbance-noise violations are civil infractions enforced by Kennewick Police (active disturbances) and Kennewick Code Enforcement (pattern complaints), with administrative penalties per occurrence under the city's civil infraction schedule. WAC 173-60 exceedances may be investigated by the Washington Department of Ecology or by local jurisdictions that have adopted the state standards, with notice-and-correction procedures and civil penalties under RCW Chapter 70.107. There is no STR-specific license-revocation tied to a noise threshold because Kennewick has not codified an STR license. The underlying business license can be enforced independently if it is out of compliance.
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