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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-08-28-NAC-minutes Town of Lexington Noise Advisory Committee Minutes of Meeting of August 28, 2019 A meeting of the Noise Advisory Committee was held on Wednesday,August 28, 2019 at 7:30 PM in the Parker Room of the Town Hall. A quorum of five members was present. Members Present: Dan Koretz, Lee Minardi (Chair), Mark McConnell, Holly Sweet, Mark Sandeen (liaison, Selectman), David Pinsonneault(liaison, Director DPW). Lee opened the meeting by raising the issue of committee memberships. His term ends at the end of September, and he does not intend to continue. Nick's term also will end then, but Lee expects Nick to continue. The committee then began a discussion of the limits for the use of gas blowers proposed in the previous meeting: M-F 8-5, Sa 9-5, Su residents only, 9-5. Lee noted that in the previous meeting, we discussed these only as hours for gas-powered blowers and did not address limits for electric blowers. Dan noted an ambiguity in the language: the minutes reference lawn-care equipment, but much of the discussion focused specifically on blowers. Dave Pinsonneault explained that the DPW would need an exception for two time periods: spring cleanup and around Patriots' Day. Mark Sandeen asked if two weeks prior to Patriots' Day would be sufficient. Dave's response was that they would need it as soon as they can get out. He explained that their work schedule begins at 7:00 AM and that they need 12-hour days then. Lee asked Dave to specify what the DPW would need. Dave suggested March 15-April 30, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Mark M. asked if this could be handled ad hoc by asking the Selectmen for an exception each year. Dan suggested it would be simpler just to write it into the proposed by-law. Mark S. suggested then that if it is put into the by-law, the text specify :on town property". Lee suggested that to be consistent, we should change the other start date in the proposed by-law from March 20 to March 15. Holly suggested that residents be allowed to use equipment until 7:00 PM because many are at work until after 5:00. 1 2019 08 28-NAC-minutes.docx Noise Advisory Committee 2 Dan suggested that we should distinguish between blowers and other lawn equipment. He observed that residents sometimes mow lawns in the evening but that he could not recall any instances in which he had seen residents using gas-powered blowers in the evening. The committee then moved to a discussion of the proposed dates for permitting gas blowers in the fall. Mark Sandeen suggested that they are never needed after Thanksgiving. Lee suggested December 20 as a final date. Holly suggested December 1. The committee turned to clarifying which equipment would be included in a new recommendation. Holly initially suggested keeping it simply by referencing only gas blowers. Mark S. responded that this leaves unanswered what we would recommend for other lawn equipment. Dave noted that the DPW now uses electric push mowers but has not switch to electric ride-on mowers. He noted that there are no electric units available for 6 foot or larger cuts, but the DPW is now evaluating smaller electric units and has found at least one that appears promising. The DPW does use electric string trimmers and hedge trimmers and uses electric blowers except for large cleanups. Dan noted that residents typically do not have gas powered string trimmers and that these could therefore simply be added to the provisions for gas blowers. The committee then discussed whether the starting time should be 7:00 or 8:00 AM. Holly suggested 8:00. Lee suggested that some residents need to do yard work early. Dave clarified that 8:00 would be problematic for the DPW because their labor contract requires that employees begin at 7:00. The committee then turned to the ending time. Mark Sandeen pointed out that some commercial firms do not stop work at 5:00,particularly if they have been off work on previous days because of weather. Dave noted that during peak times, the DPW needs to work 12-hour days, from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Mark S. asked if that could be restricted to public grounds, but Dave pointed out that in Lexington, most public areas abut residential areas. Dan raised the question of what other towns do for starting times. Mark S. suggested this information would be important for making the proposal salable. Dan noted that most of the other towns we had listed in earlier meetings start at 7:00 and suggested we follow suit. At this point, there was a side conversation about noise limits. Mark S. suggested that we focus on noise limits rather than categories of equipment. Lee noted the research showing that a single noise limit does not fully address the problem because gas blowers create low-frequency noise that travels farther, create substantial harmful emissions, etc. The committee did not change from categories to noise limits. The final recommendation by the committee is as follows: Noise Advisory Committee 3 Gas Powered Lawn Mowers and Electric Powered Leaf Blowers, String Trimmers and other electric lawn care equipment are restricted to the following hours of operation. All year Mondays —Fridays 7 am to 6 pm Commercial Lawn Care Companies Mondays —Fridays 7 am to 8 pm Residents only Saturdays — 9 am to 5 pm Sundays and Legal Holidays 9 am to 5 pm, residents only Gas Powered Leaf Blowers and Gas Powered String Trimmers are restricted to the following days of the year and time of day. March 15 to April 30 and October 1 to December 1 Mondays —Fridays 7 am to 5 pm Saturdays — 9 am to 5 pm Sundays and Legal Holidays 9 am to 5 pm, residents only Exception for DPW: DPW hours of operation exclusion during these two periods is 7 am to 7 pm for March 15 to April 30 and 7 am to 5 pm October 1 to December 1 and is restricted to only town land. The committee then discussed a variety of issues pertaining to preparation for submitting a warrant. Holly asked Dave if he has names of favorably inclined. Dave said not yet—they are taking a presentation about their partial switch to electric equipment to the Selectmen on September 23 and after that will hold two information sessions, one for contractors and one for residents. Mark S. asked if Dave can address operational costs. Dave replied that he can to some degree. They have data on purchase prices and battery costs. Dan noted that batteries are a capital expense, not an operating cost. There are maintenance savings in terms of both labor and purchases (Dave gave the example of not needing spark plug changes), but that is not entirely quantified yet. Dave noted that when they have found suitable equipment, staff prefer the electric equipment. Holly raised the need for a more substantial public awareness campaign. She and Mark Sandeen discussed the reactions to the earlier proposal at a recent Sustainable Lexington meeting. Some were positive, but there were a few strongly negative responses. Mark S. suggested that it is important to address these concerns proactively. For example, if we know that one complaint is likely to be that electric blowers aren't powerful enough, we should if possible have a contractor who can say that they are in fact sufficient. Noise Advisory Committee 4 Mark S. also suggested that even though we need to address details, we should start at the top level: concerns about health effects and noise. He suggested that health is the most compelling argument. Mark asked for articles about health effects. (Dan subsequently e- mailed the committee information about this from Jamie Banks.) Mark S. suggested that we need to go to the Selectmen twice, first to get their reactions and concerns, and then to explain how we addressed these. After some discussion, the committee decided that it was not practical to prepare adequately for the spring 2020 Town Meeting and that we should instead aim for the fall 2020 meeting. The need for additional participants was highlighted along with the use of a popular Lexington e-list for used for distributing information to Lexington residents. The committee ended the meeting by discussing possible timelines leading up to that meeting. The following was discussed as a possible timeline: Sep-Nov 2019: • Run public awareness campaign to educate people about the health effects of gas powered lawn equipment and to recruit people to join the noise committee o A few social media groups to focus this effort would be: The Lexington List(Yahoo group), Lexington Mavens (Facebook group), Next Door app • Meet with Board of Health June 2020: • Secure endorsements from the Chamber of Commerce, SustainLex, others July/August 2020: • Present warrant to Selectmen A tentative date of September 25th was set for the next meeting. Respectively submitted by Dan Koretz.