Uxbridge planning board hears sound study for proposed 374 Hazel Street battery facility; public hearing continued to May 14

The Uxbridge Planning Board on May 7 heard a technical presentation and peer review of a sound study for a proposed energy storage facility at 374 Hazel Street and voted to continue the public hearing to May 14 at 6 p.m. while requiring the applicant to supply additional materials.

Mark Wallace, project manager for Tech Environmental, said the firm conducted eight days of baseline sound monitoring (March 7–14), screened out wind‑contaminated hours and selected an L90 quiet‑period average of 37 decibels as the baseline for compliance testing. Wallace told the board the project uses manufacturer and literature sound levels for eight storage units, two large inverters and two transformers and modeled the facility at maximum power to produce a conservative assessment.

Wallace said the state standard the project must meet is the MassDEP noise policy under 310 CMR 7.10, which treats a violation as an increase of more than 10 dB above the baseline (here, a 47 dB limit). "The town of Uxbridge does not…