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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-11-19-NAC-min Town of Lexington Noise Advisory Committee Minutes of Meeting of November 19,2019 A meeting of the Noise Advisory Committee was held on Tuesday, November 19,2019 at 7:00 PM in the Reed Room of Lexington Town Hall.A quorum of six members was present. Members Present: Holly Sweet(Chair), Dan Koretz, Mark McConnell,April Wang, Nick Afshartous, Mark Sandeen Holly presented the minutes of the previous(October) meeting.The committee voted to accept them. The committee accomplished the following items: • Discussed noise decibel limits that were missing from the Lawn Care Equipment Bylaw revisions in previous meeting minutes. • Reviewed the proposed Construction Noise Bylaw revision drafted during the previous Noise Committee meeting in October. • Discussed the process for submitting and presenting a Warrant and Motion for the Construction Noise Bylaw revision. • Strategized about public awareness campaigns for both the Construction Noise and Lawn Care Noise Bylaw revisions. • Developed a list of action items for the committee to meet deadlines listed on the timeline. The details of the above accomplishments are listed below. Missing Noise limits irorn proposed Lawn Carr- Equipment Noise Bylaw revisions Dan K indicated that the noise limits as part of the proposed Lawn Care Equipment Bylaw revision (as discussed in previous meetings)were missing from the August meeting minutes. He restated the noise limits with a slight revision as follows: "Noise limits shall be no more than 78 dbA at 50 feet when the bylaw is adopted and 65 dbA starting two years after adoption." The revision includes an increase from 75 to 78 dbA at the start of the bylaw to allow landscapers to temporarily make use of the equipment they currently own. Warrant and Motion for Construction Noise Bylaw revision Mark Sandeen explained the necessary steps for drafting,submitting and presenting a Warrant and Motion for the Construction Noise Bylaw revision. The Warrant should begin with a simple statement of purpose(e.g.,"The Noise Advisory Committee are proposing a change to the construction noise bylaw to amend times")followed by a (descriptive not persuasive) paragraph underneath explaining the proposed bylaw changes in more detail. Dan K agreed to draft the Warrant and Motion. Mark S suggested that the Warrant and Motion be reviewed by someone who can draft them using legally acceptable language. Norm Cohen was suggested as an appropriate person to review,revise and approve the Warrant article and motion. The Warrant and Motion should be completed by December 19,2019. Mark S also noted that a presentation to the Select Board will be required on December 16,2019 at the Select Board meeting in order to gain their support for the Bylaw revision. The presentation (Powerpoint) must be submitted by December 12,2019. The Powerpoint presentation should include a few slides including the following information: 1"slide: "The Noise Committee is looking for the Board's recommendation to put on the Warrant" 2"d slide: Include information about what is being proposed with background info,discuss what neighboring towns are doing,and what we want to do. We discussed some of the background information that could be included,as follows: The Bylaw revision is motivated by numerous complaints about Lincoln street to the Noise Committee and the Board of Selectmen. We reviewed the bylaws of 17 neighboring towns. Our proposed revisions are mainly based on Winchester's bylaws because they came close to a compromise between the needs of the residents and commercial companies. Lexington's current noise restrictions are loose when compared with many of the other town's bylaws and we feel that we are behind the ball with respect to protecting our citizens. Final slide should be the same as the first slide asking Board to recommend the proposed Bylaw revisions. Also,the presentation should indicate that we have met with Kari Sasportas, Director of Public Health and gained her support for the Bylaw revision. Dan K agreed to create the Powerpoint presentation. As part of the process for submitting the Warrant and motion,a petition with 10 to 20 signatures is due by December 19,2019 to the Town Clerk including the Motion and Warrant. The first signature on the petition should be the person who will present the Bylaw revision during the Town Meeting in March, ideally a Town Meeting member who is supportive of the Bylaw revision. Laura Carpenter is a potential Town Meeting member that Holly can contact. Multiple members of the Noise Committee can get petition forms in order to collect signatures and the multiple petition forms can be combined for submittal to the Town Clerk. Mark S also noted that it is recommended to get support for the Bylaw revisions prior to the Town Meeting in March. He suggested that Noise Committee members attend precinct meetings on Feb 14(usually at Clarke Middle School)to get someone from each precinct to support the construction bylaw revisions. Other groups that were suggested were: Chinese American Association of Lexington (CAAL), League of Women Voters, Indian Americans of Lexington (IAL) and possibly some other civic/cultural groups. Attending these meetings would have the effect of building awareness and credibility of the Noise Committee by increasing visibility of our group. Public Awareness campaign We reviewed the purpose of the Lawn Care Equipment Noise Bylaw public awareness campaign and Dan felt that the main purpose is that we are trying to gain support and involvement from people. We also discussed the strategy and timing of the campaign. We felt that there could be two or more campaigns that address different topics. Two examples given were: • Educating people that they can use alternatives to gas-powered equipment • Educating people about the specifics of the bylaw revisions Other ideas for the campaign were: • Promote the green landscapers list to residents. • Invite people to public meetings that they can attend to learn more information. • Invite Jamie to present the environmental effects of gas-powered equipment,etc.at a public meeting • Encourage people to talk to their Town Meeting members to complain about noise. • Encourage people to have conversations with their landscapers about converting to electric,not using gas-powered snowblowers,etc. The Noise Committee should create a list of things that people can ask their landscapers. Nick suggested we time the campaign appropriately. We're heading into winter and now is not the best time to start talking to people about lawn care equipment noise. Other Dan intended on meeting with Public Health Director Kari Sasportas to coordinate with her on reporting noise complaints,and how to get a clear point of contact for citizens to report noise complaints. Mark S said the clear point of contact issue has been resolved. He noted that people can make complaints during business hours to the Building Commissioner or Board of Health,and complaints can be made to the Police after business hours. An open item of discussion is that it appears there is no online form for submitting noise complaints and no central database for storing complaints for any type of reporting or analysis. Noise Committee Timeline November 2019: • Start developing public awareness campaign to educate people about the health effects of gas-powered lawn equipment and to recruit people to support the Noise Committee o A few social media groups to focus this effort would be:The Lexington List (https://groups.io/g/lexington), Lexington Mavens(Facebook group), Next Door app o Nick is working with Jamie Banks to write an article for the Lexington Minuteman to publicize the DPW work in converting from gas to electric • Meet with Board of Health November 27,2019: • Draft of Construction Noise Warrant, Motion and Powerpoint presentation due December 6,2019: • Meet with Norm Cohen by this date to review/finalize Warrant, Motion December 10,2019: • Next Noise Committee meeting December 12,2019: • Construction Noise Bylaw revision Powerpoint presentation due to Select Board December 16,2019: • Present Construction Noise Bylaw at Select Board meeting December 19,2019: • Warrant, Motion and Petition form with 10 to 20 signatures due to Town Clerk January 8,2020: • Motion for Construction Noise Bylaw revision due February 14,2020 • Lexington precinct meetings are being held before elections(March 2?). It will be useful for Noise Committee members to attend in order to get someone from each precinct to support the construction bylaw revisions. The Precinct meetings are usually held at Clarke Middle School. March 23,2019 • Next Town Meeting January through June 2020: • Continue working on public awareness for lawn care noise June 2020: • Secure endorsements from the Chamber of Commerce,Sustain Lex,others for the Lawn Care Equipment Noise Bylaw revision July/August 2020: • Present Lawn Care Noise warrant to Selectmen Action Iterns: Action Item Person Responsible Due Date Write draft of Warrant, Motion and Powerpoint presentation Dan Nov 27 Book next Noise Committee meeting on December 101". Ideally book Holly Dec 6 a room that has a projector and screen. Meet with Norm Cohen to review/revise the Warrant and Motion . Nick Dec 6 Contact Laura Carpenter(Town Meeting member)to get her support Holly Dec 6 for the bylaw revisions and to ask that she present for us at the Town Meeting in March Collect construction noise bylaws from other abutting towns April Dec 10 (Concord, Burlington,Arlington, Lincoln and Bedford) Talk to Kari Sasportas(Public Health Director)to get her support for Dan Before Dec 12 the proposed construction noise bylaw revisions.—Due before Dec 12 because we want to specify in the Powerpoint presentation that we have Kari Sasportas'support Submit Powerpoint presentation to Select Board Nick/Dan Dec 12 Attend Dec 16 Select Board meeting to present the Construction Holly(and other Noise Dec 16 Noise Bylaw revisions. Comm members) Get forms from town clerk and get ten to twenty signatures of Holly(and other Noise Dec 19 Lexington residents who are registered voters. Ideally,the first Comm members) signature on the form will be the Town Meeting member that we convince to support us and present for the Noise Committee Interview Green Landscapers Dan Low priority Contact people who showed interest in supporting the Noise Holly Low priority committee efforts last Spring to help raise awareness and support of the proposed bylaw revisions. Not a high priority at this time. A tentative date of Tuesday December 10,2019 was set for the next meeting.