Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Regulatory Changes topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning Board schedules Dec. 19 public hearing on noise rules and driveway regulations
Summary
The Planning Board agreed on new site-plan noise language that would require compliance with U.S. EPA noise standards and allow conditions—such as sound barriers, landscaping, hours limits—and scheduled a Dec. 19 public hearing; Driveway Regulations were reviewed with no changes and were included in the same hearing.
The Springfield Planning Board agreed at its Nov. 21 meeting to publish new noise-control language for the Site Plan Regulations and scheduled a public hearing for Dec. 19 at 7:00 p.m. The Board also reviewed updated Driveway Regulations, found no changes were necessary, and placed them on the same Dec. 19 agenda.
Chairman Mike Howard said the Board had reached consensus on proposed wording that would require sites to be designed to "minimize the spread of noise to adjacent parcels" and to comply with applicable U.S. Environmental Protection Agency noise-pollution standards. The draft lists potential conditions the Board might impose when an activity could interfere with neighbors’ peaceful enjoyment, including construction of sound barriers, installation of sound-deadening materials, planting green belts, limiting hours of operation, or ordering cessation of the noise-producing activity.
The Board set a public hearing for Dec. 19 at 7:00 p.m. for the proposed noise language and the Driveway Regulations; the transcript records no votes to adopt the language at this meeting. The Board also scheduled a separate work session on Dec. 11 at 6:00 p.m. to consider possible changes to the Zoning Ordinance.
The board’s action at this meeting was to advance the proposed noise language and the Driveway Regulations to public hearing, allowing residents and stakeholders an opportunity to comment before any formal adoption vote.
