PC 091212 - Laserfiche WebLink

Ms. Ott stated that she does not have the answer right now. She indicated that some of it is locational depending upon where the source of the noise is coming from and where it is located on that property in the Transition Area, and so it may not be attainable for some but may actually be for others. She added that staff will try and specifically get an answer to that question. Commissioner Pearce indicated that she is not sure if she has an opinion on noise right now and that she would like to have more information on it. She added that she agrees with Mr. Harvey that the Commission should be constrained to what the current Code says but she would be happy to look at anything and to understand dBA a little bit more, for example, what 60 dBA sounds like and how loud 70 dBA is. She indicated that she does not need to get super technical, but she would appreciate anything that will really help her understand what those kinds of decibel level look like. Commissioner Blank agreed. He stated that it is always good to have a consultant, but the Commission needs to actually hear it. He added that the Commission also needs to be realistic about the Transition Area such that if the weather forecast says that it will be raining by noon tomorrow, it does not that it will be clear until 11:59 a.m. and then at noon the clouds roll in and the rain starts; there is a buffer in there and what they are saying is that it is going to be clear at least until noon, but it might be clear until 1:00 p.m. until the rain starts. He noted that the same thing is true with these buffers so the Commission needs to have a realistic perspective. He indicated that he does not know much about audio decibels, but he knows a lot about radio decibels, and based on that, he thinks that if it is 65 dBA on one side of the street and it is not a very large street, it would be 65 dBA or 64.5 dBA on the other side of the street. He noted that, as he mentioned earlier, if the Commission could have a recording and hear what 60 dBA, 70 dBA, and 74 dBA sound like, the Commission could compare those and can make at least an informed judgmental decision. Commissioner O'Connor agreed with Commissioners Pearce and Blank. He indicated that he is fine with the hours and thinks they do not need to be reduced. He stated that it is all about the noise level and that his first inclination was that as the Code says 70 dBA, he is a little hesitant to go to 74 dBA because if he does not know what 70 dBA is, there would be no way for him to know what 74 dBA. He indicated that he does not know either what 60 dBA sounds like but he is fine with that because it has been on the books for quite a while. He agreed that it would be good if someone sat here with a meter and actually played that for the Commission. Commissioner Blank stated that he would like to add on to something Commissioner O'Connor said. He indicated that the Commission talked about it, but it would also be helpful if staff could do some work or even talk to some Task Force members about sustainability. He stated that he is familiar with the B scale, but if the noise exceeds a certain limit for one minute in an hour, that could easily be registered high on the B scale. He questioned if that would count if the 59 minutes of that hour were dead silent. He pointed out that staff needs to figure out what constitutes a violation. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, September 12, 2012 Page 29 of 35