June 13, 2013
New York

Noise, wind, preservation

By Joanne Pilgrim | June 13, 2013 | The East Hampton Star | www.easthamptonstar.com

The East Hampton Town Board will hold a hearing next Thursday on revisions to the town noise ordinance.

The changes are aimed at identifying potential violations according to how much they vary from an average ambient noise level in a particular area.

Music from a commercial establishment that exceeds more than five decibels above the ambient noise level will be considered a violation. Also considered a violation would be “unreasonable noise” measuring 10 decibels or more above the ambient noise level when measured from a complainant’s property, or 15 feet or more from its source, on a public right of way, between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., or sound that reaches seven decibels above the ambient noise level between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Among the noise that would be excluded from the maximum noise level provisions would be sound from construction between 7 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., from agricultural activities between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., and from homeowners’ or workers’ use of light equipment such as leaf blowers or lawn mowers, as long as it did not exceed more than four hours a day or eight hours during any week.

Hearings will also be held next Thursday on an application to erect a wind energy turbine on farmland off of Route 114 in East Hampton and on accepting a facade easement protecting the historic Joshua B. Edwards house on Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett from Dr. Huntington Sheldon. There will be hearings on the purchase of a .46-acre parcel of land at 36 Oyster Shores Road in East Hampton from the Edward Virgilio Irrevocable Trust and the Louise Virgilio Irrevocable Trust, at a cost of $240,000 from the community preservation fund, to preserve open space; on the addition of that property to the town’s preservation fund management and stewardship plan, and on the purchase of a shy acre of land at 30 East Lake Drive in Montauk, owned by Kathryn McGeehan, for $60,000 from the preservation fund, also for open space, and its inclusion in the management and stewardship plan.

The hearings will begin at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

Following a May 2 hearing, the town board voted last week to accept another facade easement from Dr. Sheldon, covering the Joshua B. Edwards barn on his property.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/06/13/noise-wind-preservation/