HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-01-16-NAC-min Town of Lexington
Noise Advisory Committee
Minutes of Meeting of January 16, 2019
A meeting of the Noise Advisory Committee was held on Wednesday,January 16,
2019 at 7:30 PM in the Hudson Room of Cary Hall. A quorum of three members
was present.
Members Present: Nick Afshartous, Mark McConnell, Lee Minardi (Chair), Dan Koretz,
Joe Pato (Selectman). A quorum was present.
The meeting acted on the following items:
Joe Pato Introduction
Joe Pato is a new member of the committee filling the Selectman position vacated by
Michelle Ciccolo. This may be a temporary assignment for Joe but should be resolved
by the March town election.
Discussion of open-meeting law
Lee:
• Briefly explained the law's main points that we should follow when
communicating outside of a public meeting of the committee.
Joe:
• Confirmed that deliberations can only be conducted in posted, open meetings.
Cannot use e-mail or serial communications to deliberate.
• Noted that the attorney general has a guide explaining this.
• Confirmed that 3 is a quorum.
• Subgroups may do background work, but this must be brought to an open meeting
and not send on to other members individually by e-mail.
Discussion of slides presented on December 3, 2018 to the Board of Selectmen
Lee:
• Started by noting some of the issues that arose in the December presentation, in
particular, (1) specific noise level limits and how enforcement could be done and
(2) questions about public support.
Nick:
• Would not be a comprehensive plan without enforcement.
Joe:
• Suggested "testing the water" with residents and then proceeding to a proposal.
2019 01 16-NAC-min.docx
Noise Advisory Committee 2
• Suggested including a few lawn-care companies in the discussion
• Suggested going to Chief Corr to get his initial views on enforcement.
Dan:
• We need more information about the experience of other jurisdictions with
enforcement.
• Chief Corr does not yet have experience with this.
• A permitting system might reduce the need for police enforcement.
Lee:
• Who would do permitting?
Joe:
• The DPW now sells permits to leave yard waste at Hartwell;perhaps this could be
expanded to permit lawn care.
Lee:
• Expressed skepticism about the practicality of enforcement.
• E.g.,police would be called but would not get there in time.
Dan:
• The practicality of enforcement is an empirical question, and we don't yet have
enough real information about it.
• It isn't necessary for police to arrive in time in each instance. Police miss the vast
majority of speeding incidents, but the risk of getting caught nonetheless reduces
the incidence of speeding.
Nick:
• We have information suggesting that the limits have in fact worked in Arlington.
Discussion of next steps
Lee:
• Committee has insufficient staff to complete this by March, 2019 for a vote by
Town Committee.
• Because of staffing constraints and problems with enforcement,proposed
dropping the initiative.
Dan:
• Proposes that we no longer aim for the March 2019 Town Meeting
• Proposes that we instead focus on gathering additional data that we can use to
determine whether to go ahead with a proposal to the Town Meeting in 2020.
Lee:
• If continuing, we need to differentiate the effects of quantified noise limits from
those of simply prohibiting gas-powered blowers.
Dan:
• We need a list of communities that have experience with limits of various kinds.
Nick:
• It would make sense to arrange public meetings in the meantime to see whether
there is sufficient support
Noise Advisory Committee 3
Joe:
• Suggested ways to advertise meetings
o Minuteman
o Lexington list
o Social media
o Neighborhood lists
o PTA
o Green team/Lynn Jensen
• Don't need to present a finished proposal at meetings;just core issues and
preliminary ideas about responses
Lee:
• There are three main issues for discussion at public meetings
o dBA limits
o Limits on hours of operation
o Limitations on or ban of gas-powered equipment
Joe:
• An additional issue is enforcement vs. permitting vs. approved equipment
• Should have at least two meetings
• Might get useful feedback from Sustainable Lexington and LexGWAC
• People involved in Meeting will be increasingly busy now. Might be sensible to
have pubic meetings after Town Meeting and after I attempt to collect more data
on impact.
• The second meeting could be with a draft article to discuss.
• We could aim to have the entire packaged finalized by December.
Plans and timing
At this time, no one agreed to be the primary coordinator for a public awareness effort to
raise knowledge about the committee's goal of restricting noise from powered lawn care
equipment.
General discussion led to agreement on the following points:
• Dan volunteered to take the lead to gather data on the effectiveness of noise level
enforcement. He will seek to identify a few communities that have stated
quantified limits to noise produced by powered lawn-care equipment.
• No public meetings will be scheduled in the meantime.
• The next meeting will be scheduled after we have additional information
regarding the effectiveness of noise limit bylaws on the mitigation of noise.
• The committee will decide how to proceed with the noise abatement effort at that
meeting.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dan Koretz