FORT BRAGG, CA., 10/6/26 — A food truck generator in Fort Bragg could run no louder than 65 decibels under a draft noise ordinance that a City Council committee is scheduled to review Thursday.
The Public Safety Committee is scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. Oct. 8 at Town Hall, 363 N. Main St., and on Zoom. The committee is asked to make a recommendation to the City Council, according to the staff report, which was prepared by Marie Jones Consulting for the city’s Community Development Department.
The draft would rewrite the noise chapter of the municipal code. Most of the existing chapter dates to a 1972 ordinance. It sets no decibel limits but makes it a misdemeanor to make “any loud, unnecessary, unusual penetrating, or boisterous noise” that disturbs a neighborhood or annoys “any reasonable person of normal sensitiveness.”
The city attorney recommended objective limits “to aid in enforcement of standards and make the ordinance more defendable in court,” the staff report said. The city’s code enforcement officer recommended specific standards for generators, construction, public assembly buildings such as churches and halls, and train horns “due to ongoing code complaints.”
Decibel limits by zone
The draft sets limits by zoning district, measured with a sound level meter at the property line. In residential areas, which the draft defines as residential zones and anything within 500 feet of one, the limit would be 60 decibels during the day and 50 at night. In the Central Business District and the general and highway commercial zones, it would be 70 by day and 65 at night. Industrial zones would be allowed 85 by day and 65 at night. A noise with a steady whine, hum or throb would have to come in 5 decibels lower.
The draft gives two times for when night begins, though the definitions are confusing. The report gives daytime as “seven (7) a.m. to ten (6) p.m.” and nighttime as “ten (6) p.m. to seven (7) a.m.” In both, the word says “ten” and the numeral says “6.” The staff report asks the committee whether it agrees with the hours.
Other rules would apply in any zone
Food trucks. Generators couldn’t exceed 65 decibels, which the staff report compares to a conversation between two people standing a few feet apart. Generators that meet the limit cost about $800 to $1,000, the report said. Battery systems that make no noise cost about $10,000 to $20,000, which the report said “could be a challenge for our local food trucks.” The report suggests the council could apply the limit to new food truck permits and to renewals.
Construction. Work would be exempt from the decibel limits if it’s kept from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, unless a permit sets other hours. Residents and owners could work on their own property on weekends if they stay under the decibel limits. Emergency repairs would be exempt. Construction noise is now limited only as a condition of a planning permit, the report said, and many repairs and some new construction, such as single-family homes, don’t need one.
Barking dogs. Animal noise would be a violation if it continues for five minutes straight or off and on for half an hour.
Parties. An occasional social gathering between 11 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. would be exempt if it measures no more than 65 decibels from an adjacent residential property.
Halls and churches. Sound that reaches the property line of a public assembly building would have to meet the zone limits. The staff report lists the city’s churches, the Masonic Temple, Portuguese Hall, Eagles Hall, Lions Hall, City Hall, the Veterans Building and school buildings. Noise that leaks from those buildings isn’t regulated by volume now, the report said.
Organized games and activities at parks, playgrounds and school fields would be exempt from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The staff report said that exemption wouldn’t cover a pickup basketball game and asks the committee whether the city wants to regulate that kind of noise.
A first violation could bring a warning. Later violations would be infractions, according to the draft’s penalties section, though another section of the draft is titled “Noise Disturbance Deemed a Misdemeanor.” The police chief would administer the ordinance.
Train horns
The draft wouldn’t touch train horns. Federal rules require engineers to start sounding the horn 15 to 20 seconds before a public road crossing, the staff report said. A city can set up a quiet zone, where horns aren’t routinely sounded, only if its crossings meet federal safety requirements, the report said. Fort Bragg’s crossing gates block only the approaching lane, the report said. Gates that close the whole road are estimated at about $350,000, with maintenance that can run to $10,000 a year, and work on Highway 1 would need a Caltrans permit. Staff would pursue a quiet zone only if the council directs it, the report said.
The code changes would cost about $1,000 in consultant time, according to the report. It said Thursday’s meeting is the first the city has held on the overall topic, and that the Skunk Train’s owners and food truck operators were notified.
Written comments can be sent to sremington@fortbraggca.gov. The Zoom link is https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85497517309.