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Council presses for action on Noble Metals noise; city begins expanded sound monitoring
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Summary
After months of complaints, Oak Ridge staff told councilors they have deployed new calibrated sound equipment and are conducting expanded monitoring at Noble Metals; councilors urged measures to curb early-morning noise and suggested resident-based monitoring and long-term relocation options.
Oak Ridge City Councilors and staff addressed ongoing residential complaints about noise from Noble Metals, a recycling and materials business on Belgrade Road, and directed staff to expand monitoring and explore enforcement or relocation options.
Planning and code staff reviewed background: a third‑party sound study in December 2024 found noise ordinance violations; the city issued a notice of violation and requested a mitigation plan from the business. The city recently purchased new, calibrated monitoring equipment and trained staff to use it. Beginning Sept. 8 and continuing through the present, staff have taken multiple measurements at different locations around the business’s property line at various times, including early-morning visits starting before 5 a.m.
Staff described the ordinance’s measurement framework used in Oak Ridge: daytime L50 of 65 dB (50% of the hour), L10 of 70 dB (10% of the hour) and a maximum absolute limit of 80 dB. Early results from the new equipment, including readings from the afternoon of the meeting, show the business is "nowhere near" breaching the 50/10 thresholds in sustained terms, staff said, though the city has recorded some peak noise events above the 80 dB maximum. Staff cautioned that peak events often proved to come from other sources on replayed audio — for example a dog barking at the nearby animal shelter or truck backup beepers — and that the new equipment can record audio when measurements exceed a set threshold to identify sources.
Neighborhood councilors and residents described repeated disturbance at 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., and asked whether operating-hours limits could be enforced or whether the city could require the business to load trucks the night before to eliminate early‑morning loading. Council members suggested placing the city’s monitoring equipment on residents’ properties (the city said it can), conducting multi‑day continuous sampling where feasible, and testing uphill back‑decks where neighbors report the loudest impacts. Staff said devices require occasional charging and cannot run uninterrupted for long stretches but can be deployed over consecutive days with charging breaks.
Some councilors urged exploring a land-swap or relocation option for Noble Metals to move operations away from residential areas; staff noted potential long-term planning options such as identifying industrial parcels in the ETTP corridor and raising the idea with impacted businesses. Legal and zoning history was discussed: staff reviewed prior Board of Zoning Appeals approvals for Noble Metals (2004 and 2018) and said those approvals did not cap business size or require operations entirely inside a building; council discussion touched on aesthetics, neighborhood impacts, and whether operations remain consistent with the intent of nearby industrial zone standards.
Council directed staff to continue multi-location measurements, to consider resident porch/backyard monitoring on request (noting such recordings may not meet code standards for enforcement but are useful evidence), and to pursue options to reduce early‑morning operations in coordination with the business and legal staff.
