To the members of the Menlo Park City Council:
The City of Menlo Park is renowned as a fine residential community. While it has businesses and offices, it is spared the less desirable aspects of a more industrially-oriented city. The “Profile” of the City on its website emphasizes the ‘outstanding quality of life’ for its residents.
Most residents of Menlo Park would probably agree that quality of life would include a peaceful enjoyment of their homes and gardens. Indeed Menlo Park has a Noise Ordinance to define the limits of sound that could disturb that peace. The absolute limits of acceptable noise are defined for both residential and for construction noise. These limits do not, however, take into account where these noises occur. The same level of noise at the intersection of El Camino Real and Ravenswood Avenue would have a markedly different effect than those zones for residential properties.
With the general availability of outside speakers that produce amplification of sounds formerly contained within residences, the potential exists for noise that exceeds the comfort level of neighbors, impinging on their peace and ‘quality of life’. Raucous late-night parties that exceed the defined noise levels lead to calls to the Police Department for control.
Our immediate neighbor city, Palo Alto, has a noise ordinance that we consider more reasonable. While absolute top limits are defined, and are not dissimilar to those of our city, the ordinance adds very helpful guidelines:
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the city that the peace, health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Palo Alto require protection from excessive, unnecessary and unreasonable noises from any and all sources in the community. It is the intention of the city council to control the adverse effect of such noise sources on the citizen under any condition of use, especially those conditions of use which have the most severe impact upon any person.
(Ord. 4634 § 2 (part), 2000)
9.10.030 Residential property noise limits:
The minimum sound level shall be determined with the noise source at issue silent, and in the same location as the measurement of the noise level of the source or sources at issue.
1. No person shall produce, suffer or allow to be produced by any machine, animal or device, or any combination of same, on residential property, a noise level more than six dB above the local ambient at any point outside of the property plane.
* General Daytime Exception. Any noise source which does not produce a noise level exceeding seventy dBA at a distance of twenty-five feet under its most noisy condition of use shall be exempt from the provisions of Sections 9.10.030(a), 9.10.040 and 9.10.050(a) between the hours of eight a.m. and eight p.m. Monday through Friday, nine a.m. and eight p.m. on Saturday, except Sundays and holidays, when the exemption herein shall apply between ten a.m. and six p.m.
Thus, this takes into account that in the quieter parts of the City, noise should be of a lesser degree that in the less-quiet. Thus the residential portions of the city are more restricted the the downtown area with its increased traffic.
We propose that the Council consider modification of the Noise Ordinance to make it more compatible with the desires of its residents to have a peaceful quality of life.
Sincerely,
Eric Butler M.D. and Suzanne Rocca-Butler
760 Sharon Park Drive
Menlo Park, CA 9402
