Noise Ordinance Design: Mapping by Land Use

摘要

A community in coastal Maine sought assistance to conduct a comprehensive noise mapping for thernentire town and revise its noise ordinance. A different approach was proposed that would meet their goalrnand provide an enforceable noise code. The town accepted the proposal to implement a new GIS noisernlayer for the Town's land use maps. Individual properties were given a noise rating based on land use andrnnoise sensitivity. The new GIS layer used these ratings and a receiving property line noise limit wasrnassigned for every property based on the actual land use and noise sensitivity, parsed by zone. A noisernmeasurement procedure was developed, tested and evaluated for use by the local enforcement officials.rnThe Town's noise ordinance language was revised with noise limits tiered by land use, noise sensitivity,rnand definitions expanded and improved. Sections were revised to grant enforcement officials legalrnauthority absent in the original ordinance. A noise measurement training procedure was developed tornqualify the enforcement official and a datasheet was created that documents the measurement record,rninstrument certification, and enforcement official. Results from this project are presented and thernusefulness of land use mapping is discussed.