2019-05-22-NAC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Noise Advisory Committee 2 Jamie Banks, a Lincoln resident, director of Quiet Communities, and lead champion of the bylaw gave a presentation on the process that led to the adoption of the bylaw. In addition to public meetings to educate and gain feedback, other activities were used to get the word out including the distribution of flyers at popular town meetings and events (e.g., road race) and meetings with various groups and town agencies to develop support for the initiative. They also used a website and Facebook site. Key to the bylaw approval was the support of respected groups and a simple bylaw statement. Dr. Banks said that prior to the vote a bylaw statement regarding a specified noise limit was removed by request. The full process took about six years from original concept to approval. It should be noted that Lincoln's Town Meeting is direct voter participation whereas Lexington uses a representative model (only the 197 elected Lexington TM members vote). General Discussion on How to Proceed A general discussion was had to discuss the content of the proposed bylaw, how to educate the public about the proposal, and how to gain support with Town Meeting members and town officials to help ensure the approval of a new bylaw. The proposed bylaw can be considered to have three parts: 1. restrictions on when (hours of the day, days of the week)powered lawn care equipment can be used. 2. restrictions targeted specifically at gas powered leaf blowers. 3. restrictions on the maximum noise level of certain lawn care equipment. Issues 1 and 2 were not discussed at the meeting since the summary version for the bylaw developed for the December 3, 2018 Select Board meeting is an adequate initial draft. Select Board comments on that presentation can be found here. http://records.lexingtonma.gov/WebLink/O/doc/365269/Page6.as]px Dan Koretz stated that an explicit noise level restriction be included in the bylaw while Lee Minardi said that the bylaw not include a maximum permitted db noise level. Much discussion centered on the need for public awareness and how to get the support of Town Meeting members and other key town decision makers. Mark Sandeen outlined the Town Meeting process and suggested that contact be made with TM members for each precinct and that the weeks in the winter before the March 2020 meeting was probably the best time to do so.