• The decibel scale is exponential. A 10 point change in decibel level corresponds to a 10x change in sound intensity.

• Austin permits 10 times more nighttime noise than the next most noise-tolerant cities of Nashville & Washington DC.

• Austin's limits are 100 times Atlanta's or Denver's.

• It's time for Austin to adopt a noise ordinance more in line with other major cities.

See end for notes, sources, and methods. 

• In surveys, noise consistently ranks among the top three deteriminants of urban quality of life.

• Constant exposure to excessive noise negatively effects mental health.

• The World Health Organization has determined that noise pollution is the second largest environmental cause of health problems after air pollution.

• Children in noisy environments have slower reading development and impaired attention.

See end for sources.

• Austin's noise ordinances were passed in the 1990's, updated in 2003 and again in 2011.

• In the 1990's, Austin made a deliberate decision to support live music and outdoor entertainment venues with lax noise ordinances.

• However, as city density has increased, so have non-entertainment noise sources including: mechanical equipment (e.g., HVACs), delivery trucks, private garbage collection, and shop noise. Efforts to rein in these noise sources have been kneecapped by business owners and developers to keep regulations to a minimum.

• Or -- "Aren't noise ordinances just a form of NIMBY-ism?"

• Reasonable noise limits do not impede growth. Phoenix, Dallas, Houston and Atlanta are all A/C-dependent cities that have continued to grow, despite basic noise limits.

• Since every city has adopted basic noise limits, HVAC providers now offer many cost-effective lower-noise solutions, including quieter condensers and sound barriers.

• Adding sound barriers to cut HVAC noise adds roughly 1% to the cost of a typical development.

• HVAC noise mitigation has a negligible impact affordibility and will not reduce availability of low-income housing options.

• This installation was recently approved by the City Planning division and has been inspected by code enforcement and found to comply with all city ordinances. 

• This HVAC produces 75+ dB at the roofline continuously day and night and is audible for blocks in a traditionally residential area.

• This installation makes outdoor space on neighboring residential properties essentially un-usable.

• In July 2024, the Planning Commission recommended a reduction in the decibel limit of mechanical equipment from 70 to 45 decibels.

• On October 10, 2024, Council Members Ryan Alter, Vanessa Fuentes, José Velásquez, Chito Vela, and Zo Qadri offered the Resolution below requesting that the City Manager study the impacts of noise regulations on residents and identify opportunities for improvement.

• On July 18th, the City Manager responded with the memo below. (TL;DR: the City Manager does not seem interested in more noise limit enforcement.)

• Recommendations were made based on a survey of 284 respondents (out of a city of over 1mm), which city staff, correctly, deemed too small to draw a conclusion.

• Despite the lack of any reasonable basis, City Staff recommends "outreach and education campaign as an alternative to regulatory changes" with no comment on how such a campaign would address the issues raised by the Planning Commission and City Council.

• This recommendation is consistent personal comments from Code Enforcement staff that their department is not interested in the added workload of more stringent noise enforcement.

• Action is needed at the City Council level to compel the City Manger and Code Enforcement to regulate Austin's mechanical noise.

• I've lived in the same Austin neighborhood for 17 years. A little over a year ago, a new business moved in across the alley from my house and installed two 15-ton HVAC units, each emitting 75+dB 24/7.

• I've learned first-hand about Austin's incredibly lax noise ordinances and the "not our problem" approach taken by Austin's Code Enforcement department.

• I've also seen how developers and business owners can easily dismiss neighbors' documented complaints about noise emissions with a simple response of: "the city says this is up to code."

• This is a problem worth addressing now. As a rapidly developing city, Austin will be much better off getting things right from the start instead of trying to remediate mistakes after their impact becomes clear.