Briefing Book Report of the Citizens for Sustainable Communities July 31, Introduction: Purpose and Scope

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1 Briefing Book Report of the Citizens for Sustainable Communities July 31, 2018 Introduction: Purpose and Scope The Comprehensive Plan adopted by the Talbot County Council in 2016 declares as the County s primary goal.to promote a high quality of life, to preserve the rural character of our County, and to protect the health, safety and well-being of its citizens in resilient community This same vision for community is also expressed in the County Council adopted Bellevue and Tilghman Village Master Plans a 12 month process with extensive community engagement that represented a broad range of interests.... ( Both citizen-driven plans have the explicit goals to protect and enhance water access to commercial watermen and water-oriented businesses while also protecting the character of the traditional residential character of the villages (2017): Bellevue: preserving a working waterfront while being sensitive to the concerns of adjoining neighbors. (2017, pg. 18) Tilghman: an approach to community development that supports maritime and community-based development compatible with the existing neighborhood scale and character and for enhancing tourism in an appropriate way [with a] focus on heritage/nature /nature based tourism with enthusiasm for Tilghman as it is. (2017, pg. 25) Now, before the County Council are two draft laws that are intended to further frame Talbot County community development policy in a manner consistent with these planning and citizen consensus objectives. The first is the Next Step 190 updated zoning code prepared by the Zoning and Planning Commission, the purpose of which includes implementing zoning and subdivision controls that govern land use, growth and development in accordance with the duly adopted County Comprehensive Plan in a manner that will preserve the County s existing rural character and quality of life (March 2018, Next Step 190, Sec 2.2). This is a land use document. The second is the draft Noise Ordinance prepared by the Council-appointed Noise Ordinance Task Force (NOTF) relating to Chapter 92 of the Talbot County Code. (May 10, 2018). Its purpose is to be in Pg. 1 Sustainable development Group BB.

2 keeping with the primary goal of the Talbot County Comprehensive Plan, as stated above, by creating an effective, enforceable and fair ordinance for the regulation of noise (NO, Sec. 92-2) The proposed Next Step 109 and Noise Ordinance to be adopted by the County Council must work in concert as laws and regulations implementing the Comprehensive Plan. The overlapping aspects addressed in this summary go to the matter of the regulation of the use of outdoor amplified music at restaurants and bars, and hotels and marinas as event venues, short term rental of residential properties (e.g., the party-house problem), and other noise generating activities that occur over a continuous period to time. The matter of industrial noise and episodic noise such as that emanating from emergency vehicles and sirens, and County-sanctioned special public events is not in question. Next Step 190, among many things, moves the county from the current general prohibition with limited exceptions for outdoor amplified music generated by restaurant, bar, hotel, marina and yacht club venues to that of noise permissiveness subject to a Board of Appeals (BoA) Special Exception process. In Tilghman this process will require the noise generating venue to develop a noise control and abatement scheme (noise compliance plan). With the exception of a minor clarification of term definition (Tab 11), the Next Step 190 document is from a sustainable community development perspective, a clearly written and balanced document that keeps the faith with the Comprehensive Plan and is supportive of goals stated in the Village Master Plans. Proposed Noise Ordinance. The proposed Noise Ordinance is in several respects deeply flawed. Although a strong, good case can be made for re-constituting the Task Force due to several errors of commission as well as omission, the view taken here is that with proper attention to needed amendments (Tab 12), the Council can approve a Noise Ordinance in its summer session. However, a rush to adopt the Noise Ordinance as currently written is ill advised and, if it is approved as is, will have long term negative impacts on the Talbot citizens. The purpose of this Briefing Book is to address the noise topic in a balanced and knowledge driven manner. To achieve this twin goal of balance with knowledge of the implications of change from present practice, an ad hoc team of Talbot residents from across the county has given several months of personhours to develop a noise knowledge base. The members of the working group are primarily from the County areas in and around Bay Hundred, Easton, and St. Michaels. All are residents of the county, but not all are living in neighborhoods that are at present likely to be directly impacted by a noise venue. The interests of the set of not-now-nearby-noise-venue persons is that there is a recognition that what the Council does today regarding the two documents may at some point impact them, and their families and neighborhoods. This looking ahead to the potential long term effects is particularly true with the respect to land use. Today s land use change decisions made by the Council will frame -- carry over -- from today s noise Pg. 2 Sustainable development Group BB.

3 venue owner to that next noise venue owner. Thus, who may be a good neighbor today, may not be that good neighbor in the future. Accordingly, there is a huge responsibility for today s Council to get it right. And, to get it right entails applying to policy what is known about matters that range from the meaning of loudness levels, the power of sound and how it travels over land and/or water to the economics and health effects of excessive noise (Tabs 4-9). Balance: This document does not argue for an old-ways-are-good-ways approach to sound and noise. o There is no objection being made to the very significant change proposed in Next Step 190 to move the County away from today s prohibition of restaurant and bar outdoor amplified music. o What is of great concern is that several aspects of the NOTF s proposal that can lead to harm to the Talbot community. These aspects are discussed below. Knowledge driven: There is a robust science and literature relating to sound and noise. If not properly and technically regulated with meaningful enforcement, there will be a net long term loss to the entire Talbot community. o There is the trial lawyers saying that When the facts are on your side, pound on the facts. When the law is on your side, pound on the law. When neither is on your side, pound on the table. This document pounds only on the facts, law, and economics of the issue of noise. Moreover, this is neither an us vs them document, nor one that questions the goodwill and legitimacy of some citizens having views that differ with our Working Group s conclusions. Take, for example, the matter of the proposal by the NOTF to raise the county s permissible maximum noise limit from the present 55 decibels (db) to the State s maximum of 65 db. (It should be noted that the State set the maximum and encourages local jurisdictions to set more restrictive levels.) After doing its research and due diligence, it is the Working Group s finding that to combine (i) the Next Step 190 change from prohibited to permitted music with (ii) the NOTF s doubling a doubling of the maximum allowable sound violates the vision for Talbot as stated in the Comprehensive Plan and the Village Master Plans; ignores the science of how one perceives decibel levels and how sound travels across land (and farther across water); affects health; and, is just bad economics in that it fails to balance resident benefits with resident costs. Again to note, all of these topics are addressed in the following sections of this document. Pg. 3 Sustainable development Group BB.

4 Organization of the Briefing Book A glance at the Table of Contents (preceding page) will give one a good look at the organization of this document. Following the above Introduction, a summary of the Working Group s Key Findings is presented. The Briefing Book then proceeds with (i) a presentation of the Supporting Documents (Tabs 2 through 18 ) to back up each of the Key Findings, and of high special importance to the Council, (ii) Tab 3 lay provides a letter from the Task Force hired sound and noise expert to the policy choice before the Council (iii) Tab 17 that lays out amendments for the Council in order to make the Next Step 190 and NOTF reports work together. Tab 16 provide an excerpt on designing a noise ordinance (Source: FindLaw); and (iv) A Glossary is provided in Tab 18 Remainder of page intentionally blank Pg. 4 Sustainable development Group BB.

5 Key Findings There are eight key findings that stem from the research on the science of sound and noise: 1. The topic Sound and Noise as a Nuisance is most important from a local policy perspective. Noise Pollution as with air and water pollution-- is detrimental to one s health and well-being and is shared by everyone. The community concern regarding the Council s action goes to the question of how to promote a high quality of life, the Talbot County s rural character, and protect the health, safety and well-being of its citizens in a sustainable and resilient community. These concerns goals -- are formally expressed in both the County s Comprehensive Plan (2016) and the Village Master Plans (2017) that that were agreed upon in a highly citizenparticipatory process and that have been formally adopted by this Council. The issue is more than about the important matter of maintaining the peaceful and quiet environment that has kept and drawn residents to this place on the Eastern Shore. It is also about matters of human health as well as sustainable community economic development. There is a large body of free-from-bias scientific research that can inform political decisions relating to key local matters of zoning, planning, and the use and abuse of human generated sound and noise. 2. Sound is measured in decibels (db) on a logarithmic, not arithmetic, scale. This is like compound interest on steroids. Changes in loudness are described on a logarithmic scale because the human ear can hear a wide range of sound levels. The human ear can usually tell the difference when a sound changes by 3 db and change in 5 db is clearly noticeable. To put this in policy perspective: o 55 db to 65 db If Talbot County s current maximum of allowable sound allowed from a point source (e.g., bar, restaurant, club, hotel, the party house next door) is increased from 55 db to 65 db, this means a doubling of sound---a 100% change. [It is not, as is sometimes argued, just an arithmetic 18% change in the noise level]. o 35 to 40 db (ambient) to 65dB. Pg. 5 Sustainable development Group BB.

6 The increase from 65 db from 35 db (which is the level of ambient sound that one receives on a summer evening in a quiet residential area or as background music at a bar) is eight - fold increase in loudness. 3. That sound travels out from a point source in an increasingly larger sphere has important implications, among them is that it travels over, around, and even through a barrier. Thus, for example, the planting trees or general landscaping plants is, in fact, not a barrier at all. 4. Sound attenuates or is reduced in amplitude as it travels from the point source. A good way to think about these sound pressure waves traveling through the air is like a stone dropped in the water causing waves of water. Just how rapidly it attenuates is a function of the power of the sound at its point source. The bigger the stone, the bigger the wave and the further it travels. Thus, if you have a conversation over the backyard fence with your neighbor at db (a typical conversation level) that sound is a small sound to start with and will soon blend into the ambient background in just a short distance away (about 24 ft. according to the charts). However, if that sound is measured at a level of db at the property line of the point source, when the point source is 500 feet from the property line, then that sound that started as a much more powerful sound and is going out in a sphere that can be heard over land as far away ¾ to 1 ½ miles. This sound level example is similar to a fire house emergency siren. 5. Land, water and wind matter, too. All sound will dissipate- Land: sound will dissipate 6 db over land every time the distance is doubled from the source (for further explanation of how this works, see Tab 4.) Water. Sound will dissipate 3 db over water every time the distance is doubled from the source. Wind. Sound travels faster and thus farther in the air when it travels with the wind. Temperature. The speed of sound also depends on temperature. Sound will travel faster on a warm summer night than it will in the cool of the spring or autumn. 6. There are serious and significant health effects due to sound when it reaches the 65 db level. These effects range from irritation and annoyance to stress, headaches, inability to concentrate, hearing impairment, and even cardiovascular health. Children are more affected that adults because they have yet to develop coping mechanisms (Tab 12). 7. In the field of development economics, there is the matter of balancing costs and benefits (Tab 11): Pg. 6 Sustainable development Group BB.

7 Costs. Excessive noise (e.g., the stress and health problem at 65 db) is a form of pollution that is every bit as real as air and water pollution. These costs should be avoided. Benefits. There are community benefits to be derived from the growth of a visitor industry. These benefits should be captured and can be done so in a manner compatible with minimizing the costs imposed on neighborhoods. To pose the economic development question as one of encouraging visitor industry development vs. maintaining the peace and quiet of a residential area near a hospitality venue is a False Choice. 8. Laws and regulations designed to support a balanced and sustainable community economic development in Talbot County will require a more permissive approach to outdoor music (in the manner that Next Step 190 proposes) coupled with a County commitment to establish a set of noise level regulations and nuisance penalties that are certain and significant and then enforced. Certainty, significance and enforcement will lead to self-monitoring to ensure compliance. The history of Talbot County enforcement of its own laws is very mixed. Part of the balance that must come with permissiveness is enforcement. Continued on next page Pg. 7 Sustainable development Group BB.

8 A Guide to the Supporting Documents (Tabs) Tab Number 2: Power of Sound Notes on Information Provided Excerpts of the Comprehensive Plan and the Tilghman Village Master Plan. The Village Master Plan Community Survey is explicit: Quiet ranks second to sense of community as to the preference of the citizens of the village. There is appropriate reference to a Working Waterfront, but that reference is made regarding the crab, oyster, and clam business along with Heritage Tourism. 3. Task Force Sound Expert The Noise Ordinance Task Force sound expert (Carr Everbach): (i) raising the maximum allow noise lever from 55 db to 65 db would be a terrible mistake (italics emphasis added); (ii) There are well documented negative health effects; (ii) moving for 55 db to 65 Dba will exacerbate, not reduce County law enforcement and administrative costs. 4. Power of Different Sounds. A very useful document that takes one through Fundamentals of Sound Measurement including (i) sound measurement and the math of sound measurement; (ii) distance from the source of the sound matters, (iii) what we can hear what is loud and what is quiet, and (iv) the implications for enforcement. 5. Sound Facts A Cliff Notes of facts to remember when you think about sound, how loud it is, and how loud it will be farther away. It summarizes research by international health and economic development entities that explicitly call for a maximum of 50 db in rural areas and 55 db in urban areas. Pg. 8 Sustainable development Group BB.

9 Guide to Supporting Documents Continued Tab Number Notes on Information Provided 6. Logarithmic and Arithmetic Compared A creative presentation of incremental increases of 10 db compared to an equivalent number of dollars ($$$) and numbers. Moving from 55 db to 65 db would be like moving from $100,000 to $1 million. 7. Table of Common Noise Sources Two charts that give one a good sense of the what the db level is of different sounds from the rock band to that of the quiet rural village nighttime (Tab 7). 8. Graphic of Perceived Sound Level Change Caused by Logarithmic Increases in db 9. The C: scale This graph provides an easy to interpret chart that shows the increase in loudness that a human perceives when the db level is increased. The chart gives a graphic of the implications of what you perceive when the level of sound goes above the ambient level of 35 or 40 db to 55 db or 65 db. Here one sees in a picture the doubling, quadrupling and even eight fold increase in loudness that 55 db and 65dB causes. This explains the difference between the C scale and weighted A Scale for measuring decibels. The proposed Noise Ordinance uses only the weighted A scale that under-measures the highs and lows. The A scale is fine for many sounds, but seriously underestimates the impact of low frequency sound such as bass music. The absence of this measure from the Ordinance is problematic. 10. Wind Tab 10 is looks at the relationship between sound travel and wind. While wind itself does not impact sound, it causes sound to happen in hotter or colder places, which impacts how far it travels. Pg. 9 Sustainable development Group BB.

10 Guide to Supporting Documents Continued Tab Number Notes on Information Provided 11. The Economics of Music This essay is not as dense as it may first appear. The first couple pages lay out the economic framework for how to achieve a good economic outcome. From there it proceeds to look at three questions: (i) the nature of pollution and who benefits and who pays for noise pollution; (ii) whether it is the hospitality venue or the resident who adds more to the Talbot economy in terms of income generation; and (iii) how each party hospitality or resident -- is effected by changing asset values. The essay concludes that it is a False Choice to make this a choice issue between business development and preservation of residential quiet. 12. Health Effects Much is being said about the negative health impacts of increasing sound levels. This tab presents a set of guidelines of how to think about this issue and a short bibliography of health impact studies. 13. Rural Village Example Tab 13 is worth a close look. There is significant debate of 55 db vs. 65 db on three distinct issues: the short term rental party house; a motocross run; and the impact of loud outdoor amplified music on now quiet residential neighborhoods. This tab looks at the third matter with special attention to Tilghman Island. (impact map included). It notes that due to the concentration of noise venues -- there are six (6) potential outdoor venues that will be changed by the Council s decision -- it is Tilghman that has the greatest likelihood of being harmed by the 65 db standard. To further note: all this discussion about outdoor music is, in fact, about the village of Tilghman. Indeed there are only two other county venues on the water that can have outdoor music: Lowes Wharf and Harbourtowne. Neither presents the adjacent to-aresidential area issue in the same manner as does Tilghman. The one-size-fits-all of applying 65 db across the county is not a workable solution. Pg. 10 Sustainable development Group BB.

11 Guide to Supporting Documents Continued Tab Number Notes on Information Provided 14. Enforcement This tab discusses the means to successfully allow outdoor music while minimizing the burden on the County through effective (i) planning, (ii) tools and mechanisms to ensure compliance, and (iii) further, the need for a meaningful fine schedule that acts as a deterrent to encourage self-monitoring and compliance. 15. History of Tilghman Outdoor Music Tab 15 documents the record of abuse of noise regulations on Tilghman and the difficult, time consuming, and county resource consuming process of resolving it. 16. Guidelines for Noise Ordinance This tab sites a website used as a resource by lawyers in drafting laws. This reference is for preparing a noise ordinance. 17. Amendments to Proposed Law At its June 24 workshop with the Noise Ordinance Task Force the Council asked for a list of amendments that the Noise Ordinance Task Forced either dismissed or just refused to consider. This compendium is not possible for us to produce. Instead, this tab provides proposed amendments needed with the current draft Noise Ordinance. These should be taken up by the Council before it accepts the Noise Ordinance as presently written. 18. Glossary This provides definition of technical terms. Pg. 11 Sustainable development Group BB.