Resident calls on Redondo Beach to remediate chronic noise, safety issues on North Prospect Avenue block

A resident raised ongoing safety and noise concerns about the 500–600 block of North Prospect Avenue, telling the council he had provided code citations and decibel measurements to city officials and asking for the city's remedial plan.

Daryl Boyd said the block experiences sustained noise readings "from 64.3 to 68.8 decibels and as high as 85.2 decibels during afternoon drive time" and asserted the levels exceed limits in the County of Los Angeles and the city's own municipal code. He told the council he had emailed code and ordinance numbers including California Health and Safety Code section 46000 and Los Angeles County code references and asked the council to share any plan to remediate the safety and noise concerns.

"We need a safety and noise barrier, and we need this unsafe and unhealthy situation at 500 to 600 North Prospect Avenue block remediated immediately," Boyd said during the public-comment period.

Why it matters: The speaker said the noise and vehicle activity create a public-safety and nuisance condition that affects residents' health and living conditions and cited multiple state, county and city codes he says apply.

Council and staff responded in the meeting. A city speaker noted that enforcement and analysis depend on an ambient-noise study that compares current readings to the higher of either the ambient level or the municipal code standard. Staff also disputed some factual points the speaker raised about traffic trends on Prospect, saying traffic is down compared with 2009 while other arterials carry more traffic.

No formal council action was taken at the meeting. The resident requested the council share the city's plan for remediation and the council did not provide a written plan during the meeting.