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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-09-25-NAC-min Town of Lexington Noise Advisory Committee Minutes of Meeting of September 25, 2019 A meeting of the Noise Advisory Committee was held on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 7:30 PM in the Hudson Room of Cary Hall. A quorum of five members was present. Members Present: Lee Minardi (Chair), Dan Koretz, April Wang, Mark McConnell, Holly Sweet, Mark Sandeen (liaison, Selectman). Lee presented the minutes of the previous (August 28) meeting. The committee voted to accept them. The committee discussed the format of meeting minutes and agreed that a summary of each discussion is sufficient. Lee raised the issue of police involvement in dealing with noise complaints. He went to the police department on September 23 to see how a noise complaint he had made on May 7 was handled. He described the initial complaint, the manner in which his request for information was handled, the record of the policy response, and his recommendation. He presented the committee with a written description as well, which is included with these minutes as Appendix A. Lee emphasized that the police have noise meters but that none was used in the case of his complaint. Rather,the complaint was evaluated based on an officer's judgment. Lee suggested that personal judgment isn't sufficient for evaluating noise complaints and recommended suggesting that people calling in noise complaints request a meter reading. Mark S. noted that the Town Manager said that noise complaints should be directed to the Health Department or, in the case of construction noise, the Building Commissioner. He noted that at present, the point of contact for both is the same person in Town Hall. Mark reported that the Town Manager asked the Public Information Officer, Sean Dugan, to find ways to make this clear to residents. This is likely to include modification of the town website. Mark suggested that the NAC assist Sean in devising appropriate wording. Dan noted that we need to resolve the proper point of contact. Most residents are likely to turn to the police, and if the police have the sound meters, that is another reason to send complaints to them. It might be that the Health Department would receive the complaint and then request that the police evaluate the noise involved. There was agreement that this needs to be clarified. The committee agreed that a first step is to meet with the Director of the Health Department, Kari Sasportas, to discuss how the NAC can work the Department in general 1 2019-09-25-NAC-minutes-draft Noise Advisory Committee 2 and to discuss how the NAC can fulfill it's responsibility under its charter to review noise complaints and how the complaint mechanism should work, and to get Kari's thoughts about enforcement of the proposed new bylaw. Dan volunteered to contact Kari. Mark S. brought up the committee's original charter and noted that the committee is charged with doing a quarterly review of noise complaints. However, it is not clear that there is a straightforward way to do this because there is no centralized record. The committee then discussed the need to insure that complaints are both properly routed and properly documented. The town does not yet have a ticketing system that would allow easy tracking and coordination of complaints. It was also not clear to the committee that all town employees have a clear list of points of contact for complaints that they receive. The committee discussed the desirability of implementing a modern system that would make it straightforward to file a complaint, have it routed to the appropriate people, and tracked. The committee then discussed the issue of construction noise. Currently, the town's bylaws are relatively lenient, allowing construction noise from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM, 7 days a week. The Board of Selectmen has been receiving complaints about construction noise and asked that the committee draft a recommendation for new provisions restricting it. The committee noted that Winchester recently put in place a policy limiting construction noise, excepting that created by residents, to 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM on weekdays and 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturdays and prohibiting it on Sundays and holidays. The committee agreed that we will collect information on the policies in force in other local towns and will discuss a proposal at the next meeting, which is scheduled for October 29, 2019. April agreed to collect this information for the committee. The committee then returned to the issue of a public awareness/support campaign for the proposed lawn-care bylaw. The committee agreed that in the light of the timeline agreed to at its previous meeting, this needs to be done now, with the goal of completing it by the end of November. Holly noted that she had contacted all of the groups suggested earlier by Mark S. but that she had received a reply only from Sustainable Lexington. She will re-contact the rest. The committee agreed that it would be helpful to have feedback from landscapers who have been successful in adapting to restrictions in other towns. Dan agreed to try to obtain the names of some. Mark M. and Mark S. both stressed that the health aspects of gas lawn-care equipment will be critically important in the public awareness campaign. Mark S. noted that there are new studies showing even more serious effects and provided information about these. Mark M. and Holly agreed to place notes on the Lexington List and other online venues raising these issues. The committee adjourned at 9:30. Noise Advisory Committee 3 Appendix A Description by Lee Minardi of handling of a noise complaint by the Lexington Police Department Noise Complaint to Police Department Experience On September 23, 2019 I discussed the manner in which noise complaints were handled by the police department with Sargent DeMambro. As an example of the protocol I asked how a noise complaint I made on May 7, 2018 about a contractor blowing foam insulation into a house under construction at 26 Downing Road was handle. Prior to making my noise complaint to the police department I used a cell phone app to get a ballpark estimate of the noise level. My phone app indicated a level in excess of 95 dbA. Extremely loud by normal standards and significantly above the 85 dbA limit of the town bylaw specified in bylaw Chapter 80-3, Noise Injury paragraph C., Air force Standard AFOSHSTS 48-19. The officer who responded to the complaint(his/her name is not available to the public) stated in the report that the noise level was "not excessive". How the officer made this decision is not clear but Sgt. DeMambro thought it was probably just a judgement call. She told me that the Lexington police do have sound meters available for measuring noise levels but one was not used in this instance. It is not know why a measurement was not made. Multiple officers expressed the viewpoint to me that contractors needed to get work done and therefore high levels of noise should be expected and accepted. There was no indication that contractors could take steps to mitigate noise levels. A resident on Lincoln Ave. was successful in getting a contractor to significantly reduce construction noise via the erection of temporary walls but she worked hard for over a year to get results. I recommend that residents should be advised to make complaints to the police department regarding excessive noise, that they should request that a metered reading of the noise level be made, and that they be notified of the police officer's findings be reported back to them. Request to the Noise Advisory Committee for Bylaw Revisions I attended the September 23, 2019 Selectmen's meeting for the agenda item "Discuss Potential Noise Bylaw Revisions". Selectman Joe Pato authored the issue due to several complaints the town had received regarding excessive and extended noise at construction sites, typically of new residences. Construction noise is currently "prohibited from use between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., or as otherwise restricted by a Town of Lexington permit" (town bylaw paragraph 80-4 A.). A request was made by the Selectmen that the Noise Advisory Committee make a recommendation for a revision of the prohibited hours for construction noise. They would like it to be available for the town warrant that will be published later this year. At the meeting Town Manager James J. Malloy stated that noise complaints should be made to the Health Department if during the work day and to the police department after hours and on weekends. Lee Minardi September 25, 2019