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MINUTES
NOISE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
30 SEPTEMBER 2004 MEETING
LEXINGTON TOWN OFFICES
Selectmen's Meeting Room, 7:30- 8:27
PM.
NAC Members present:
(NAC) Martha Wood, Acting Chair
Julian Bussgang, Jim Fearnside, Myla Kabat-Zinn, Ted Page
Liaison persons present:
Lt.Mark Corr (Police Department)
Members of the Public:
Brian Susnock
AGENDA ITEMS DISCUSSED
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1.Minutes of the September 14 meeting
These minutes were reviewed and accepted as written. They will be sent to the town clerk.
2.Review of the letter to the Selectmen regarding the Arlex Noise Mitigation Proposal.
Arlex Oil, in a letter to the Selectmen dated August 14, had outlined a range of options for
mitigation of noise at its Arlex facilities in Lexington. The Selectmen had asked the NAC to
comment on this letter. A draft letter to the Selectmen had been prepared, and was reviewed
at this meeting. Some corrections were made to the draft letter and a motion was made and
accepted to approve the letter as amended. The letter will be sent to the Selectmen by Tony
Galaitsis.
3. Special Permit Application Form
Lexington’s Noise By-Law, Chapter 80, Section 8a, stipulates that a person seeking a Special
Permit for any activity otherwise forbidden by the provisions of this By-Law make a written
application to the Board of Selectmen, or designee, on the appropriate form. Presently, there is
no such form available. Tony Galaitsis agreed to draft a form to be filled out by the applicant
for a special permit.
4. Preston Road Massport Noise Monitor
Massport operates one Noise Monitor in Lexington, located on Preston Road. This location
was identified by the Hanscom Field Airport Noise Work Group (NWG) as unsatisfactory,
because its noise level may be dominated by Rte. 128 traffic noise. The Selectmen charged
NAC with recommending a replacement site. Massport wants the town to suggest a better site
where electrical power for the monitor would be available, and the owner of the property
would permit the monitor to be mounted on a pole. Massport is currently revamping the noise-
monitoring network for Hanscom, so that a timely recommendation is in order.
Tony Galaitsis and Julian Bussgang have examined the neighborhood and plan to come up
with a recommendation soon.
5. Logs of Complaints
NAC Minutes 9/14/2004
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The Committee will review the system for logging complaints, so that they can be reviewed
and analyzed on a quarterly basis. Lieutenant Mark Corr of the Police Dept was present at the
meeting, and discussed the problems with categorizing noise complaints by type in the police
log. Currently, there is not a consistent entry made in the police log of the nature of the
offending noise by all of the ten people who fill out this log. Mark is going to talk to these ten
people and have a more complete description of the noise source entered in the log. Jim
Fearnside will arrange for complaints filed with the Board of Health to be submitted to NAC
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on a quarterly basis, with the first set to be submitted at the December 16 meeting of the
NAC.
6. Discussion of who has authority to act on noise complaints.
A discussion of what town bodies have authority to act on noise complaints, including issuing
fines was undertaken. It was pointed out that under the Lexington Code, Chapter 80, Section
7A the following town agencies have this authority: Board of Health, Police Department, Fire
Department, Inspectional Services or any designee thereof.
7. Next Meeting
The next meeting of NAC was tentatively scheduled for December 16 at 7:30 p.m.
[Reviewed and approved by NAC on 1/25/05; E-mailed by A. Galaitsis]
NAC Minutes 9/14/2004