What about noise?

Cooling equipment and backup generator testing produce continuous low-frequency sound. In quiet rural areas, a constant hum can be audible at property lines and is difficult to remedy once a facility is built.

• The main sources are chillers, fans, cooling towers and periodic generator testing. Continuous mechanical noise, not peak decibels, is what most often drives complaints.
• Low-frequency sound travels farther and penetrates buildings more readily than higher frequencies, which is why simple A-weighted decibel limits can understate the nuisance.
• Mitigation is well established: equipment selection, acoustic barriers and enclosures, setbacks, orientation, berms and vegetative buffers, and scheduling of generator tests.
• Retrofitting mitigation after construction is expensive and less effective than designing for it.

• Commission an independent baseline noise study before approval, measured at nearby property lines.
• Set enforceable property-line limits in the conditional use permit, including a low-frequency standard.
• Require post-construction verification testing, paid for by the developer.
• Restrict routine generator testing to daytime hours.
• Provide a published complaint process with a named contact and response timeline.

• Local zoning ordinances and conditional use permits

  Source: County planning commissions

• Community noise guidance

  Source: U.S. EPA / World Health Organization

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