FORT BRAGG, CA., 11/10/26 — Ann Marie Cesario has lived near the Skunk Train for 26 years. “It’s never bothered me except for the last couple of years when they put the new mega horn on it,” she told the Fort Bragg City Council on Monday, Nov. 9.
The council voted 5-0 to introduce an ordinance that sets decibel limits for each part of town and covers, among other noisemakers, food truck generators, construction and barking dogs.
It leaves the train horn alone. Sound regulated by state or federal law is exempt “to the extent” that law preempts the city’s rules.
Cesario said, “I remember the first time they blew it after 9 o’clock at night, and I called the police department, and they told me, ‘Call the Skunk Train. There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s a federal law.'”
Councilmember Lindy Peters made the motion, and Councilmember Tess Albin-Smith seconded it. Councilmember Scott Hockett, Vice Mayor Marcia Rafanan and Mayor Jason Godeke also voted yes. The vote introduced the ordinance. The council still has to adopt it at a later meeting, and it would take effect 30 days after that.
From “average person” to a number
The city’s old noise rules turned on whether a noise bothered an average person. The city attorney found that standard “very subjective,” said Marie Jones of Marie Jones Consulting, who wrote the new draft for the city. The staff report says objective limits will “aid in enforcement of standards and make the ordinance more defendable in court.”
The new rules are measured in decibels, the unit for how loud a sound is, at the property line. “70 decibels is the sound level of a blender or vacuum cleaner,” the staff report says. Sixty-five is about “normal conversation between two people standing a few feet apart.”
In residential areas, which means residential zones and anything within 500 feet of one, the limit is 60 decibels by day and 50 at night. In the Central Business District and the general and highway commercial zones, it’s 70 by day and 65 at night. Industrial zones get 85 and 65. Parks and open space get 60 by day and 40 at night. Jones said that last number is “to address issues out on the Coastal Trail where people are camping with generators at night.”
The draft defined daytime as 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Council members moved nighttime to 10 p.m. before the vote. “The 7 to 10 is the old noise ordinance limitations,” Jones said.
Other rules
Food trucks. Generators can’t run louder than 65 decibels anywhere in town. Quiet generators cost about $800 to $1,000, according to the staff report. Food vendors renew their permits every three years, and the rule would apply when they renew permits.
Construction. Work from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, is exempt from the limits. Owners and residents can work on their own homes on weekends if they stay under the limits.
Dogs. An animal that makes noise for five minutes straight, or off and on for half an hour, breaks the rule.
Parties. One social gathering a month, from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., is exempt if it stays at 65 decibels or less at the neighbor’s property.
Power outages. Emergency generators are exempt.
Peters asked how police would measure any of it. Jones said phone apps “do a fairly decent job” for a neighbor deciding whether to call, but not for enforcement. Police will need a decibel meter if they don’t already have one, she said. “They’re like 200 bucks,” she said.
A first offense can bring a warning. The penalty section makes later violations an infraction, though another section of the draft is titled “Noise Disturbance Deemed a Misdemeanor.”
The police chief said noise calls aren’t common. “I think we occasionally get noise complaints, but it’s not a common thing for us.” City staff said code enforcement has been getting complaints “about a specific venue, but that has been consistent every time that event has been happening.”
A train quiet zone would cost about $350,000
Federal rules require railroad engineers to sound the horn at least 15 and no more than 20 seconds before a public crossing, according to the staff report.
“Right now our train folks honk their horns quite a bit more than 20 seconds before crossing Highway 1,” Jones said. “So right now they actually are not complying with the train horn rules that exist. So if the council wanted to do enforcement on this, you could, but you also don’t have to.” She also told the council she is not an expert on railway law.
A quiet zone, where trains don’t routinely sound the horn, would need four-quadrant gates on Highway 1. Those close both lanes, so drivers can’t swing around a lowered arm. The staff report puts the cost at about $350,000, plus up to $10,000 a year to maintain. “The City cannot at this time establish a quiet zone,” it says.
Jones said the city has asked Caltrans for a grant “to do the design and engineering for the double crossing. And out of that, we would get a proper cost estimate.”
Albin-Smith said the $350,000 is “way lower than what was announced by former chief” Neil Cervenka, who “said it was something like a million dollars.” Cervenka’s estimate of about $1 million covered changes at five intersections, according to minutes of the Public Safety Committee’s Oct. 18, 2023, meeting. Jones said she averaged what two or three other communities paid about two years ago, and her figure covers only the Highway 1 crossing.
“I think we ought to really look into it,” Albin-Smith said. If the city can’t fit it into this ordinance, she said, “I think we ought to keep it in mind and bring it back.”
Mark Iaconello has lived in Fort Bragg for 32 years and lives on Stewart Street. “In the last year [the train horn] has gotten really, really obnoxious. Late at night, early in the morning, all different kinds of times,” he said.
Cesario asked the council to pay for the gates. “Please do the quiet zone, spend the money. It’s worth every penny,” she said.
Paul Clark, who spoke online, has lived in Fort Bragg since 1976. “I would agree that maybe they could be toned down a little bit,” he said, “but do you honestly think that with the city of Fort Bragg and the California Coastal Commission suing them they are going to do that?”