HomeMy WebLinkAboutAttorney Senie Letter with Acoustical Engineer Comments Received 06.22.23SENIE E6 ASSOCIATES, P.C.
A T T O R H E Y 5 A T L A W
15 Cape Lane
Brewster, MA 02631
Phone (774) 323-3027
Fax (774) 323-3008
esenie@senic-law.com
WWW.SENIE-LAW.COM
June 22, 2023
Mr. Steven DeYoung, Chair
Ms. Delores Fallon, ZBA Administrator
Yarmouth Zoning Board of Appeals
1146 Route 28
South Yarmouth, MA 02664
Tel (508) 398-2231 x 1285
dfallon r� armouth.ma.us
RECEIVED
JUN 22 2023
YARMOUTH
BOARD OF APPEALS
Re: Petition 5019 (continued from 05/11/23) Application of Maria Curtis, DBA Lightning Speed
Go -Karts, Property Location: 228 Route 28 West Yarmouth, Assessors' Map 37 Parcel 148,
Zoning District B-2
Dear Chair DeYoung, members of the Yarmouth ZBA and Administrator Fallon;
Administrator Fallon was kind enough to forward to me yesterday a copy of the cursory
evaluation of the potential acoustical impacts of the proposed go-kart track prepared by
Cavanaugh Tocci.
I asked Michael Bahtiarian of Acentech, the acoustical engineer our firm has ready to do a full
pre -construction acoustical model and analysis at our cost to review the Cavanaugh Tocci letter.
Below is an email communication from Mr. Bahtiarian, which articulates the ways in which the
cursory evaluation dated June 14, 2023 by Cavanaugh Tocci is inadequate.
I will be present at this evening's session of the public hearing and would like a brief opportunity
to address the Board on this point.
I have sent a copy of this letter to BSC Group at the same time it is being sent to your office.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Christopher G. Senie
Senie & Associates, P.C.
From: Bahtiarian, Michael <mbahtiarian@ACENTECH.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2023 7:30 PM
To: Christopher Senie <csenie@senie-law.com>; Marilyn Lucht <mwlucht@hotmail.com>; Wagner
Quintanilha <wa ner wa nerhm.com>
Cc: Victoria Dalmas <vdalmas senie-law.com>
Subject: RE: The applicant's noise analysis
Hi Chris and everyone,
I have read through the CTA report dated June 14, 2023 and have the following
comments:
• Page 1, Para 1: CTA states this is a "cursory evaluation" and in the last
paragraph they again note it as a "brief environmental sound study..."
• Page 1, State & Local Regs: the report fails to mention the MassDEP noise
guidelines.
• Page 2, Ambient Sound: Measurement of ambient sound for 10 minutes is
woefully inadequate. We proposed a full week of 24/7
measurements. Further, the time of day when the 10-minute
measurements was not stated. If this was during busy hours it would result
in higher ambient than at say 9:00 pm.
• Page 2, Facility Sound Analysis: It is not clear if the solid vinyl fence sits on
top of the concrete masonry wall and what the total height of that barrier
would be. Still the vinyl fence is not heavy enough to act as a noise
barrier. The concrete wall is heavy enough. CTA estimates a total sound
level of 50-56 dBA. My quick calculation results in sound level of 63 dBA
which is much higher than the CTA estimate. This estimate is based on all
the go-karts at the same point at the same time which is very conservative.
• Page 2, Last paragraph: It is not clear why CTA starts talking about inside
sound levels when they have proposed a 50 dBA outside sound level
limit. Most environmental noise studies provide sound level estimates for
outside. I would also not compare the go-kart to sound to in -room air
conditioning. They are just not the same type of sound sources. The AC is
mid to high frequency and the go-kart is mostly low frequency, thus no
sound masking really occurs.
• Page 3, Recommendations: These are all good recommendations: replacing
the mufflers, limiting throttle and the noise barrier if done correctly.
• General: This study really needs to be done with acoustic modeling
software. This provides benefit of the true sound transmission, and the
effect of a sound barrier on sound reduction. The study needs to be
conducted with frequency based (octave as a minimum) sound data
because the go-kart is mostly low frequency and barriers do not block low
frequency sound as well as mid to high frequency sound. The software will
also compute sound levels in all directions and take into account reflections
and other "excess attenuation".
• Noise Wall: Concrete wall will reflect sound in the opposite direction and
thus may increase sound to the east. Further, there will be no reduction of
go-kart sounds to a second floor of the Sunbird hotel.
My conclusion is that the study is too abbreviated to be deemed an "adequate
and reasonable" evaluation.
I hope this helps for tomorrow's meeting.
Michael Bahtiarian, INCE Bd, Cert., INCE Fellow
Principal
ACENTECH
33 Moulton Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
o 617 499 8000 contact us
d 617 499 8058 acentech.com
Acoustics Technology Vibration