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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-05-05-NAC-min Town of Lexington Noise Advisory Committee (NAC) DRAFT Minutes of Meeting May 5, 2021 A meeting of the Noise Advisory Committee ("NAC") was held via Zoom videoconference on Tuesday May 5, 2021 at 7:00 PM. A quorum of four members was present. NAC Members Present: Dan Koretz (Chair), Vicki Blier, Nick Afshartous, Stewart Smith, April Wang Others Present: Mark Sandeen, local landscapers, other individuals. 1. Public Meeting with Landscapers — Introductory Remarks Stewart acted as moderator of the meeting which took place virtually on Zoom via the Town webinar meeting format currently utilized by the Town's Select Board. All participants were welcomed. Stewart announced that the meeting would be available on LexMedia. He outlined how the meeting would proceed and referred to the rules of conduct and decorum for all participants and noted that, initially, each participant would be allocated three minutes to speak regarding the draft bylaw which the committee has provided and are further invited to submit written comments. He advised that the meeting was scheduled for go for two hours. He then introduced Committee chair Dan Koretz to make opening remarks. Dan addressed landscaper complaints from the April 27 Landscaper meeting regarding a listing on the NAC page of the Town website of landscapers who employ electric equipment. Landscapers had expressed that the listing was essentially free advertising provided by the Town to a favored group, and therefor unfair. Dan noted the Committee appreciated the concern and that the Town Manager agreed with the complaint and the list has been taken down. Regarding the development of a new bylaw, Dan clarified that the Committee does not set policy, but rather gathers information and proposes solutions which the Select Board and, later, Town Meeting may accept, modify, or reject. He further clarified that the Open Meeting Law does not permit the Committee to meet privately with a group of landscapers. All discussion must be done in a publicly announced, open meeting attended by a quorum of Committee members, by written submission, or in individual conversations with a single committee member. Dan then listed some of the very wide variety of information sources pursued by the Committee for information and apologized for the Committee's failure to consult with landscapers. He acknowledged that due to seasonal pressures, landscapers are currently unable to sufficiently research electric equipment in order to give advice to the Committee. Therefore, the Committee has voted to divide the proposed bylaw into two parts. • The seasonal, day, and hour restrictions which do not require research will be developed for deliberation at the Fall, 2021 Town Meeting. • The bylaw covering equipment transition will be developed for the Annual (Spring) Town Meeting, 2022 in order to allow the Landscapers more time to gather information and provide comments to the Committee. Dan noted that the Committee is under pressure by Lexington residents to mitigate landscape maintenance noise. He then asked for specific comments from landscapers regarding the Seasonal, day and hours limitations and to address other concerns at a later date. 2. Landscaper Comments 22 people in addition to the 5 Committee members participated by attending the webinar meeting. Dan shared a chart that showed the Time and Season restrictions in nearby towns and asked attendees to limit their comments to these issues. In summary, a number of issues were raised to the Committee: • Two landscapers felt that all Town residents should be included in these discussions, and that the process could be postponed until there can be a large in- person meeting. This delay would also allow more viable equipment to become available. It was further requested that the Committee send out invitations to the list of landscapers to make it easier for landscapers to observe our committee meetings. • Paulette LaMacchia noted that "noise is noise" whether made by landscapers or homeowners and stated that her company purchases new GLBs every two years and sells their used GLBs to homeowners. She indicated that the current electric leaf blower technology is not efficient enough. She also asked for the equipment regulations to be addressed at a later date than the seasonal and days/hours of operation. She also asked if a GLB manufacturer were to develop a gas-powered machine that is as quiet as an electric blower would its use be allowed. • Landscaper comments indicated the need to clarify whether the bylaw targets all gas- powered equipment or just GLBs. Dan stated that the elimination of all gas-powered equipment has not been part of any Committee proposal. • Several landscapers discussed the reasons for starting their workdays at 7am. Reasons include the need to finish early enough so that employees can use public transportation to get home, the need to work during daylight hours, the need to avoid rush-hour traffic and delays caused by school buses and the desire to be home with their families to have dinner and participate in family life. • Several landscapers reported that losing one hour of work-time each day would have a huge economic impact on their business and on their employees' incomes. Landscape workers put a high value on maximizing the number of hours that they can work, and the loss of seven or more hours per week of wages is a concern. Landscaper Anthony Modoono indicated that eliminating Sunday hours and imposing later start times and earlier end times would result in the loss of 20 hours of work per employee multiplied by 30 weeks per year. • Mike Keegan indicated concerns about negative environmental issues associated with Lithium batteries, stating that they are worse than oil and a problem for landfills. He felt that our regulations would be saving ears, but killing the environment. He also questioned whether multiple noise complaints were from the same people and that 20 complaints in a town the size of Lexington was a tiny number and could have included complaints about DPW equipment noise, which will not be regulated under the proposed bylaw. He indicated that the DPW can't do their job with electric leaf blowers and landscapers can't either. Mike questioned how the regulations would be enforced, indicating his belief that the Lexington Police would not be interested in issuing citations. • George Carette, a landscaper who has used only battery-powered equipment for the past seven years, discussed the recyclable aspects of Lithium batteries and stated that, unlike two-stroke engines they don't pollute the air or soil. He further noted significant new and upcoming improvements in battery technology. He reported that he has no problem with profitability or work production and feels that his electric operation draws customers to him. He prefers an 8 am start time and feels a later start-time is less disturbing to the public. He further described how he is able to maintain a landscaped property in Brookline of 15 acres (corrected after the meeting to 12.5 acres) using electric blowers. This was in response to other landscapers commenting on how Lexington has bigger lots than other towns that have restrictions on GLB's. • Chris Crugnale expressed approval of what he called a "phased introduction" in Brookline, Arlington and Newton. He further noted that a landscaper working for two hours on a weekday is less disruptive than a resident working for six hours on a Sunday. • Dan Koretz made comments in response to concerns expressed by landscapers. o The only change to the current proposal that was made in the past few months was to clarify that all landscape maintenance equipment other than GLBs are exempt from any proposed restrictions. The Committee is focusing on GLBs because they are the primary cause of the noise complaints. o Dan reiterated that the Committee has unanimously agreed to separate the proposed bylaw into two parts. ■ Hour/days/seasonal restrictions will be addressed first and intended to be brought to the Fall Town Meeting. Discussion about equipment and the possible GLB phase-out will be postponed until later in the summer to give landscapers time to do research. ■ Committee discussion of equipment will take place at the end of August. It is intended to bring this phase to the annual spring Town Meeting. Discussion of the Hour/days/seasonal restrictions will take place on June 8 at 7 pm. Comments for consideration at that meeting must be received by June 2. o Quieter GLBs are not as powerful as the noisier ones. o Other towns have created a noise limit of 65 dBA, while the Committee's proposal is 78 dBA. o The Noise Committee is concerned with noise, however other committees are worried about other problems related to GLBs such as the carcinogenic volatile organic compounds and particulates emitted by GLBs' 2-stroke engines. o The difference between homeowner use of GLBs and landscaper use is the difference between one blower operating at a time and four or five blowers at a time which can create noise that tops 95 dBA. Even a single blower exceeds the current Noise Bylaw. o The Committee intends to aim the strongest measures at the loudest offending equipment. o Dan showed a chart comparing other towns with restrictions to the Committee's previous proposal. • In response to Dan's question regarding what landscapers do in the towns with stricter restrictions, a variety of answers indicated that all but Lincoln have much smaller lots than Lexington so it is not an apples-to-apples comparison, that they don't have customers in those towns, or that they throttle down their equipment or ignore the regulations. Landscapers speculated that Landscapers will decline work in those towns if restriction enforcement is a problem. • George Carette indicated that moving to electric creates opportunity for new customers. He works on very large lots in Concord and they pay a premium because it is more difficult with electric blowers. He prefers the smaller lots in Lexington. He feels that mowing is no more expensive with electric because he doesn't have to pay for gas, but that cleanups can cost 20-30% more. He does 170 lawns a week with four people. • Chris Stratford noted that George Carette's business is designed to serve properties suitable to his electric equipment, but that Chris' own business would have to drop 50% to 75% of his customers and increase costs to the remainder. He mows 30 to 40 properties on a Monday. • Many landscaper comments focused on how delays due to rain and late or early snow or freezing weather makes them unable to complete their work within a rigid timeframe. o Several landscapers cited that snow can delay cleanups by as much as two weeks, and freezing weather can freeze the leaves together. o Landscaper Mike Keegan indicated that in the past he and other landscapers would aim to finish their Fall cleanups by Thanksgiving, but that recent weather patterns have forced them to work one to two weeks into December. o Chris Stratford stated that the Town's compost facility adjusts their closing dates to accommodate weather delays. • Dan asked for specific responses to the question of time/day/seasonal limits, particularly for the dates when the most powerful equipment is necessary. (see attached chart of regulations in five towns) o Matt Keegan: Lincoln seems to be the most reasonable, and gives the most flexibility with October through December 30. Spring rain or snow might make it impossible to finish cleanups by May 15th or 20th. Bad weather can create delays of four days or even two weeks. If there hasn't been snow landscapers feel an urgency to start in early March and it's wrong to make them wait until March 15. Hard and fast rules don't account for weather. This year they were done before March 15. o Several landscapers agreed that using quieter equipment during the summer to clean up grass clippings is acceptable. o Chris Crugnale: Likes the Newton model of allowing GLBs from September 6 to May 30 because the unpredictability of the weather may require cleanups in December and January. Generally, blowers would never be needed in January or February so restrictions aren't necessary. The starting date for fall leaf clean-up depends on tree stress, whether there's been rain, and variations by the types of trees, so leaf removal can sometimes start in September. People require cleanups outside of the usual fall and spring periods for reasons such as having bought a new property. There are a lot of house sales in the Spring, so cleanups are needed in May and June. Landscapers want to finish their cleanups as early as possible. Later cleanups would only be done under unusual circumstances. If late dates are available, it would give landscapers the opportunity, by most won't use it. o Paulette Lamacchia: Likes the Newton model. Her company prefers to do leaf cleanups in a series starting as soon as the leaves fall. She cited special circumstances where late dates are needed, such as customers calling late, and people who have had special projects on their property, o George Carette stated that it feels arbitrary to stop people from working in the winter, and being able to do a good job in the fall makes it easier to do a faster job in the spring. Leaving the winter open for using GLBs would be a good exception. Mother Nature ends the season. No one is out there trying to blow snow. o Bob Barnard expressed reluctance at picking a set of dates but felt that the Cambridge model was viable. March 15 is easy to comply with for a spring start. June 15 is a good end date. All landscapers aim to finish spring cleanups before Memorial Day. Cleanups after June 15 would be due to staffing shortages. Mulching comes after the cleanups and then the mowing starts. It's a juggling act and flexibility is required. When asked for a specific recommendation, Bob stated September 1 to January 1 for fall cleanups and March 1 to June 15 for spring cleanups. • Rick DiAngeles of the Town's Economic Advisory Committee expressed that regulations are an economic issue to both the landscapers and their customers. The Committee should be cautious about the effect of regulations on prices and should "go lightly and see how it goes." He also noted that there aren't complaints about the loud noise made by trash collection and recycling trucks. • Anthony Modoono expressed concern that if the law is written so that weather- accommodation days could be added to the legal cut-off day, that residents won't know that days have been added, and will complain that the law has been broken. It would be better to just have a longer allowable time period. He emphasized that landscapers want to finish as early in the season as possible. • Dan asked for comments on the regulation of hours. To concerns expressed by a landscaper about not having enough time to consult with other landscapers for a unified position, Dan expressed that the Committee is looking for many responses and the widest variety of opinions to be considered at the June 8 meeting. The Committee is trying to find a middle ground. Stuart reiterated the request for written responses by the June 2. o Dan noted that Lexington has the most liberal hours of the comparison towns with landscape work allowed on Sundays, however residents have been requesting that Lexington offer one day of quiet in the week. He noted that one Landscaper indicated that Saturday is the day that his company doesn't work, so if there is a day of quiet, Sunday wouldn't work for him. o A landscaper asked if the hour/day limitations were just on GLBs, or on all landscaping equipment. Dan responded that the intention is to regulate the noisiest equipment the most, and that landscapers can propose different regulations for GLBs and for everything else. o Bob Bernard indicated his company starts at 7 am and that an 8 am start would lose seven hours a week and that the reduced hours would be a loss for him and his employees who depend on the hourly wages and overtime. Days lost to rain require the flexibility of working on Sunday. His employees want to go to church on Sundays but the flexibility is needed. His employees want to finish in time for dinner. The current hours don't need to be changed. It's rare to see anyone working at 8 pm. If they have to be working after 7pm, they don't want to be restricted. Workers leave for work at 5 or 6 am. He supports keeping 7 am to 8 pm as the allowed operating hours. Nine am on Saturday will be difficult, and ending at 6 pm will force most landscapers into violation of the law if there has been inclement weather. He expressed that it is unfair to put landscapers into that position just because they work outside and with equipment. Most landscapers start at 7 am. Employees have to take the bus home, and many buses stop running too early. Bob expressed that although concerns have been expressed about the employees' ears and backs, no one is considering that they have to use public transportation and have to get up at 4:30 in the morning to get to work by 7. Landscapers start early to avoid traffic. This avoids the school busses and high volume of traffic. They want to get out when the sun is up. If they don't avoid the traffic, they can't get on the job until 8:30. • Dan thanked attendees for their very useful and concrete input and encouraged attendees to submit written comments. He expressed understanding and appreciation for the landscapers' viewpoints on limiting hours. He noted that comments from residents included pleas for quiet breakfast and dinner hours and that the Committee is trying to find a common ground. • Dan shared a proposed letter to be used to solicit input from the public. After discussion, the letter was unanimously approved. Dan asked the Committee to send to him email addresses in spreadsheet form for people who should receive the letter. Nick Afshartus will post the letter to the Lexington List. • The meeting was adjourned at 9:11 pm.