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Robert's Ranch residents urge Vacaville City to pursue quiet zone after years of train-horn disturbance
Summary
Multiple Robert's Ranch residents, including children and a combat veteran, told the Vacaville City Planning Commission on April 21 that frequent train horns at the Fry Road crossing are disrupting sleep and health and urged the city to pursue a quiet zone and coordination with county and rail operators.
Residents of the Robert's Ranch neighborhood told the Vacaville City Planning Commission on April 21 that train horns and nighttime crossings are harming sleep, health and quality of life, and they urged city staff to pursue a quiet zone at Fry Road.
At the public-comment portion of the meeting, Mike Whitley said measured interior noise levels at homes in Robert's Ranch "exceed that limit of 45 dB by 21 dB," citing the city's general plan noise policy. Several children described being startled awake and unable to sleep when horns sound. "One time when I was almost asleep, a train came and it honked its horn," a child told the commission.
Sean Pointer, a combat veteran who said he has PTSD, said he must use earplugs and sleeping medication to cope and requested that the city and county work together to implement a quiet zone so residents can recover after surgery and children can sleep. Resident Ramon Campa told the commission he counts roughly 40 train movements in a 24-hour period and said the constant noise threatens residents’ health and their ability to sell homes.
What staff said: The chair declined to answer procedural questions from the dais and directed commenters to city staff for follow-up. Assistant Director Garcia (identified in comments as Claudia) offered to provide staff contact information and referred the questioner to staff email for additional details and next steps.
Why it matters: Quiet zones remove routine horn sounding at public grade crossings by implementing safety improvements and coordinating with railroad operators; residents said they want the city to explore the engineering and interagency steps needed to request a quiet zone at Fry Road. The claims about interior noise levels and train frequency were presented by residents at the meeting; commissioners did not take action on a specific quiet-zone staff report that evening.
Next steps: Commissioners did not vote on the quiet-zone request during the April 21 meeting; residents were directed to follow up with staff for details and potential next steps involving city, county and rail authorities.
