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Workgroup tightens noise monitoring standards for proposed county data centers
Summary
Draft ordinance includes a 10-minute monitoring interval, 90% LAQ metric (excluding top 10% spikes), A vs C scale separation checks and octave-band analysis; staff recommended hiring an independent acoustics engineer to verify technical feasibility.
Staff member walked committee members through a multi-factor noise standard the draft now includes: a 10-minute averaging interval, an LA90-style approach that discards the top 10% of spikes, an A-scale vs C-scale separation threshold, and octave-band analysis to detect prominent discrete tones. "I lowered it to 10 minutes... the 90% LAQ that I put in measures still measures it over that hour, but it throws out the highest 10% of the spikes," the staff member said.
Members said the standard is technically robust but warned it will be difficult to administer without expert review. Several recommended hiring or budgeting for an independent acoustics engineer to validate measurement approaches and monitoring locations. The draft calls for a minimum of four monitoring devices, with the number scaled by acreage, topography and nearby receptors.
