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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-10-26-HEN-min.pdf SELECTMEN S ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON HEAVY EQUIPMENT AN NOISE Minutes from October 26 1989 Meeting Istvan L Ver was absent Chairman Joy C Buchfirer called the meeting to order at 8 17 p m Christopher A Kenney was elected clerk by the committee Joy began by providing an historical overview of the problem of heavy equipment and noise in town In particular she talked of the loud early morning noise caused by the Brookhaven development during the summer of 1988 and of the south Lexington community s futile efforts at abating the problem Chris said he notified Choate—Symmes about the problem f1 identified it as a nuisance and asked them to restrict the a b` contractor s hours of operation Betty told how she had pop contacted the Lexington police and asked them to intervene in ) V _ py this dispute The police were of limited assistance however f !�' Due to the absence of a specific town bylaw addressing this problem police handled the matter under existing disturbing the {}cp peace laws and merely asked the contractor to comply with p neighbors requests for reasonable hours of operation The contractors compliance with these requests was sporadic and the problem persisted throughout the development of the property After Joy contacted the selectmen about this problem they agreed to form this advisory committee to investigate the problem and determine the need for a bylaw or other future remedial action Next Joy read the selectmen s charge to the committee She then opened debate regarding the scope of our mission Committee members were unanimous in determining that our charge was limited to the regulation of hours of operation and noise as opposed to regulating any particular industry or conduct per se Tom agreed pointing out thq}an arbitrary bylaw whether in its provisions or enforcement -- would likely be deemed illegal Chr s stated that the abiilty to regulate hours of operation might already exist by virtue of the permit process He said that any project of the magnitude with which we are concerned could have its hours of operation limited by the permit—granting authority Jim and Tom felt that this approach would miss alot of noisy conduct for which no permit was required (e g residential renovation commercial landscaping etc ) They believed that a more uniform standard was needed to fully address the problem Joy pointed out that if we had a bylaw we could penalize offenders rather than just threatening them under disturbing the peace and nuisance laws Tom disagreed He stated that these existing laws may already provide suitable recourse if properly pursued For example he pointed out that a complaint could be brought under either nuisance or disturbing the peace and an injunction against early morning noise would likely issue _. .:j .�, :;� ;,�=• ;,`e�z*�.q'< ..Tzar; fn .... .. _4trrv. ;c.a. :.at F-I M.Ma s_ ..i{v f',/.4'-.dY d.:w"tfM.ad.�A`i6Y'G�WakiGstakS {.n. Y.....�. .-c. r. ( ‘ .C)4, 1 Joy and Betty spoke of how Belmont and Brookline had successfully addressed this problem with bylaws Betty then read the Lexington disturbing the peace regulation from the Zoning Bylaw Jim said this does not adequately address the problem because it only dictates which areas in town certain activities may operate He stated that our goal should be to formulate an all—encompassing approach to alleviating this problem Tom agreed saying that we shouldn t confuse the Zoning Bylaw with a true disturbing the peace statute or bylaw Tom believes that a state statute or regulation already exists which might solve our problem Chris agreed to research whether one exists Joy reiterated that we should learn from other towns approaches to this problem Betty agreed pointing out that while Belmont and Brookline had been successful in having their respective town meetings approve a heavy equipment/noise bylaw Stoneham town meeting members resoundingly defeated an effort to pass one in that town Tom said his law clerk had listed abutting towns which do not have pertinent bylaws He suggested that we include those towns in our research Members divided up a list of local towns to research Chris agreed to research existing legal remedies under state and local law which would obviate the necessity for a bylaw The meeting was adjourned at 9 44 p m if. -4• i•.3. Nib.. t.,},'? "r R ..r5 �` 7'W'•wRn'.`.,r G.«. l..(W. ..a'AkJ. :k:a:J'V}.TX.l�„�z? , .. ... 'E. .e. ,F'iE .�.. .., nr .. .,. ,�.:.'G.u..