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Oak Ridge to step up noise monitoring after Arpeggio study finds violations at Noble Metals site
Summary
City staff reported that a third-party Arpeggio noise study found violations at Noble Metals in December 2024; the city issued a notice of violation in April 2025, received a corrective action plan in May 2025, has performed spot checks showing no recent violations, and has budgeted continuous sound-monitoring equipment for FY26.
At its July work session, Oak Ridge planning staff updated the council on zoning and nuisance-abatement activity at Noble Metals, a metal-handling operation on Belgrade Road that spans three parcels (401, 351 and 335 Belgrade Road).
Jennifer Williams said residents in the Emery Hills/Emery Heights area submitted complaints about persistent noise. The city contracted Arpeggio in November 2024 to conduct a multi-day noise study; Williams said the final report, received in February 2025, "did show some violations on the part of Noble Metals." The report included measurements taken from Dec. 3—2 to Dec. 4, 2024, showing exceedances of the city's Article 12 noise standards at certain hours.
Williams told council the city issued a notice of violation in April 2025 and requested a corrective action plan; Noble Metals submitted the plan in May 2025. Staff inspected mitigation steps cited in the plan and reported the company had installed rubber mats in some areas. "Some are more difficult to monitor, such as... enforcing a speed limit for their drivers," Williams said; staff have performed spot checks and have not recorded violations during those inspections.
To improve monitoring, Williams said the city budgeted for continuous sound-reading equipment in FY26 and has ordered the units (ordered July 14). The new monitors will record for extended periods and produce reports similar to the Arpeggio output; the vendor will provide virtual training to code-enforcement staff. Williams said if additional violations are recorded, the city will follow its normal code-enforcement process, which could include citation to the administrative hearing officer.
Council members urged longer-duration and weekend monitoring to capture the noise residents described as chronic rather than episodic. Several councilors raised questions about whether the business has outgrown the scale of activity intended by its 2004 BZA approval and discussed long-term options such as seeking alternative locations or land-swap solutions, while recognizing the city's enforcement tools are tied to compliance with the zoning ordinance and noise code.
Council asked staff to circulate the full Arpeggio report and to provide more extensive monitoring data and updates over the next 60 days.
