I am no expert on the science of noise, so maybe Rat can comment on my observations.
1. It seems that CC's so called expert did nothing more than run around the surrounding area with a simple noise meter and record exisitng sound levels. Was this to make a simple baseline of what noise already exists? Also, as anyone who lives in the area knows, environmental conditions (wind, cloud cieling, etc) on a given day greatly affect the the level of noise in this area generated from GPR, Rt 80 and exisiting office complexes. Some days it sounds like Rt 80 is your backyard, other days you can here a pin drop.
2. HVAC: Residents who live behind 140 GPR (Meridan, Old Beach Glenn, Oak Meadows), should be concerned on the affect of over 50 HVAC units mounted on the rooftop to their quality of life. These areas sit higher that 140 GPR, and that sound will propegate for over a mile in the right conditions. Furthermore, whenever you have a mulltiple number of units operating simultainiously, the noise is compounded, perhaps not so much in decibles, but in annoyance from the whining of resonace or even phase shifting.
3. Theatric Sound System: Its not just on Sundays as we know. This group has many shows and special events all week long. as Rat stated, the lower level frequencies (bass) could propagate for miles.
4. Kitchen Fans: They plan to build a full blown banquet hall. What are the effects of a group of commercial kitchen exhaust fans whining to the folks living uphill.
My point is this. The law provides guidlines for (what they deem) acceptable noise levels at a given time of day, however, there are studies that prove constant low level background noise causes increased stress and health problems over time. I would hope the township takes the IMPACT of noise on area residents serious enough to investigate what is presented further. Chances are CC will try to spin their way to compliance on this, as has been the case with everything else in this application.
Can anyone explain why in the beginning of the application process, the town incurred the expense of having its own planning expert provide independent input. After that point, the only experts heard from are those paid by CC. Why is that and is that in our best interest? Actually I think I know the answer to the second part of the question.
BR is roughly correct about his assessment of the effect of multiple fans/air handlers. More units makes the situation worse and environmental paramaters have a direct relationship to propagation patterns and dispersals. But, on a dB scale, the effect is calculated as the square root of the sums of the squares of the SPL (Sound Pressure Levels), thus not so intuitive to predict. Furthermore, fans have some "slippage" meaning that they do not stay in perfect synchronization with the frequency of the AC power line. They use induction motors, not hysteresous synchronous motors. So, a low frequency "beating" effect will occur to a greater or lesser degree.
But everyone is missing the biggie.
This clown is not running a church. He will be running 5 or 6 rock concerts inside an indoor stadium each and every Sunday morning when manay a decent folks who live in RT are still sleeping. What is to stop this guy from installing a 250,000 Watt audio system in there? What is the IMPACT of that?
Ever seen this guy on TV? He screams and squeels at the top of his lungs as if that might get the good Lords attention. Well, it is only going to get the attention of the entire neighborhood. I am sure that G-d listens to the softest whishper just as clearly as the guy who screams through a high power amplification system.
Come on folks; ask the right questions for your own good.
And, stop taking ire-lands experts word on things. Hire your own experts to refute the A$$hole. Pray tell me, what is wrong with that idea?
ps - a real expert would have taken baseline noise measurements, but then extrapolated those to varying weather conditions, but more importantly, extrapolated them to the effects of the new systems which are going to be installed at that venue. It does not appear that was done. It takes some considerable amount of work to perform those calculations correctly. Sounds like ire-land hired just exactly the right person to make his case in front of the planning board of RT - - - he hired a knuclkehead and it worked.
Too bad you can't make the next meeting. I was wondering if there would be a benefit if you prepared a list of questions for your wife or someone else to read to CC's expert to get his responses on the record. If at a later time you reviewed his answers and if his answers indicated a real concern, could an expert, or you, provide testimony to the PB later pointing out the problem(s)? I agree with you that the town should hire a sound expert but if, for whatever unknown reason, they fail to do so would this approach somewhat mitigate this lost opportunity?
As you know, I have no fear of public speaking. My wife, quite conversely, is terrified of that idea, especially since she has no expertise in this area. As I have stated before, her expertise is Pharamaceutical research.
I have offered to sit down with anyone willing to do so early in Jan. I am not available much for the rest of the month but for perhaps a single weekend. When that weekend becomes available, I would be willing to sit down with someone in town and go over the situation and what questions to ask and why the issues need to be answered based on a "paper design" of the acoustical network being considered for the so called "sanctuary" (rock concert hall).
In the meantime, you folks should be asking your government why they are not profering their own testimony via their own experts on the various issues that have come before the board. It is mystifying that this has not been done considering the implications that this mess has on this township. In short, this situation is being completely mismanaged by the Planning Board. I have come to believe that there is only one competitant civic minded peron on that board - - - Mayor Sceusi. To be more specific, Dicker and Dimin are completely incompetitent and should be fired from their positions, just like the town planner shouuld have been fired for not keeping on top of the megatrends which are occuring in the arena of township planning.
Stop being "nice guys" about the performance of the officials. Take of the gloves, folks. Insist on some good olde fashioned "firings". This is a fight for your future, not some silly parlor game enjoined by a bunch of little girly men having no significant consequences if you loose the battle.
