Photograph by George Sakkestad
Matt Yakubisin and other landscapers and homeowners may have to keep the decibels down if the city institutes regulations to curb noise from lawnmowers, clippers and leaf blowers. Such measures were recommended in a study commissioned by the City Council.
By LESTER CHANG
Noise doesn't have a friend in the city of Sunnyvale.
City officials want to curb noise by working with San Jose to monitor flights at the San Jose International Airport and keeping track of flight activities at Moffett Airfield.
Officials also want to discourage the construction of homes near major roads, and use the permit process to evaluate land developments.
Those are among the key goals in a noise prevention plan the Sunnyvale City Council adopted on March 25.
The "noise sub-element plan" was last revised 11 years ago.
Noise from airplanes, trains and cars are the most bothersome disturbances and are the hardest to control, according to Illingworth & Roadkin Inc., Acoustical Engineers, which conducted a study for the city in 1996.
The revised city plan identifies ways to minimize impacts from Moffett Airfield. Future uses there will have a significant impact on the city, the consultant study suggests.
Because Moffett is a federal facility, it is not subject to state or local noise regulations. But the city can support any efforts by government officials and community groups to minimize such impacts, the plan noted.
The city can encourage NASA to take the the following steps:
* continue to direct flight operations over the San Francisco Bay at night.
* seek ways to minimize flights over the city.
* limit nonessential air traffic at Moffett Airfield. Nearly 20,000 take-offs and landings take place at the airfield each year. Lockheed Martin also flies satellites out of the airfield.
To help curb noise from the San Jose International Airport, the city should monitor flight activities there and ask the San Jose City Council to install a noise monitoring station in the Lakewood area in Sunnyvale, although noise may be less of a problem in the future as quieter planes become more prevalent, the study said. Planes currently fly over or near the area.
To avoid sound-related problems on land, the city should not allow projects that will not be compatible with existing ones.
The city, for instance, shouldn't put homes near major roadways, and it should review the design of barriers or sound walls before they are installed.
The city also should stay on top of the potential noise impacts of light rail trains in the future.
The Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority this year will begin laying tracks and building six light rail stations in north Sunnyvale. The trains will travel past the Adobe Wells, Plaza Del Rey and Casa De Amigos mobile home parks on Tasman Drive.
Residents have complained about possible noise, but the transit authority has redesigned tracks to be farther way from homes and has agreed to put up sound walls.
The city can avoid similar conflicts in the future by not allowing residential development near the train system, the plan said.
The city also should regulate noise from gas-powered lawnmowers, clippers and leaf blowers, the plan said.
James E. Lincoln, who spoke to the council before it approved the revised plan, said that such machinery is a major irritant and that the council should beef up the rules in the plans to deal with the problem.
Mayor Stan Kawczynski and Councilman Landon Noll agreed, and the council said it will consider the request in December, when it reviews projects the city can work on in the future.
Noise from power equipment is a top concern, but people were most irritated with noisy neighbors, music and speech, according to resident complaints registered from February to August 1995 and cited in the consultant study.
During that period, 341 complaints were registered. Of those, 138 complaints focused on loud music and noisy neighbors and 74 complaints pertained to power equipment.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 2, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.