And yes, the ongoing and costly hearing, which continues Feb. 5, is little more than a kabuki exercise, as it seems very likely that the loser will appeal and the matter likely won’t get settled until at minimum it reaches Commonwealth Court (and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars of spending).
While township officials have some interest in winning the case to preserve the right of the township to regulate commercial activity in residential zones, the residents seem only concerned about noise and parking, both of which could be fixed pretty easily and for a lot less money.
Better yet, it also wouldn’t open Pandora’s Box — an ultimate loss by the township. In addition to being very expensive for taxpayers, such a loss could change the essential character of the township by, at least in the interim, opening the door for commercial operations in some residential areas until the township’s zoning ordinance is cleaned up.
While the parking and traffic issue is fairly simple to fix — the township and owner could reach agreement on maximum parking and require shuttle service for the bulk of guests — the sound issues are just silly.
More than once during the meeting people were asking whether the witness at this week’s slice of the hearing — C.J. Frederick, a land planner — was an audio expert. He’s not. I’m a lot closer, to be honest, as a THX Level II certified theater designer (yes, I studied at Skywalker Ranch in Marin, Ca.) and someone who tested and reviewed audio gear for the better part of a decade for various magazines. There were more than a couple of times that night I wanted to slap someone with my sound pressure meter.
As such, I can tell you that the township’s noise ordinance requiring a maximum sound limit of 63 dB at the property line is completely unenforceable — much as similar ordinances throughout Chester County are. Any good audio expert could punch holes in the lack of specificity and selective enforcement rendering them moot in court.
Sound is complicated — at different frequencies it behaves differently, bass sounds carry further, but require more energy to create.
The base outdoor sound level in a typical residential neighborhood is about 50 dB. If the crickets, birds or frogs are noisy, it can climb to about 55 dB with higher peaks.
Plan on mowing the lawn? You’re in violation of the township’s noise ordinance. At 100 feet, the mower puts out about 70 dB, mow to within three feet of the property line and you’re at 100 dB. Having something delivered? That truck might be as loud as 90 dB.
Have a state of the art home theater system? It might peak at 105 dB, with a typical operating range above 80 dB. Watch Top Gun and you might be in violation of the law, too, depending on your home and how well it contains sound.
Unless you’ve all been cited by the township for violation of the noise ordinance for the above, local officials have a selective enforcement problem if they try to just pick on one source of noise. Not to mention the lack of specific measurement criteria, i.e. frequency, A weighting, etc.
The sound issues at Whitewing are easily fixed — if they’re as advertised, which I’m a little skeptical of (window rattling bass is very hard to generate at distance — typically caused by a source so loud it would be painful for those in close proximity), but with a combination of terrain modifications, sonically reflective material installed in the tents used and a good acoustic management plan could certainly eliminate sound from impacting neighbors and ironically, make for a better sonic experience for guests, too.
Impossible? Hardly.
When my now-6th grade twins were toddlers, I had to review home theater products and their nap time was my testing time. So how did I test gear at 105 dB with two little kids sleeping in the same house? I designed — largely through measuring and tweaking – the basement theater to control and channel sound so that it is efficient, and doesn’t leak. It’s barely audible at reference level (105 dB peak) just one floor above, and completely silent two floors above where my kids would nap.
Now, they play their electric guitars down there and it can be hard to tell, so yeah, it works.
Like the cell tower debacle at Po-Mar-Lin a couple of years back, here’s another expensive example of people insisting on saying “no” rather than solving the problem. And we wonder why Congress is a disaster.
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This was sort of my quote of the week from the president of the Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education:
““I’m a little disappointed we’re not buying them for all our students,” board president Eileen Bushelow said. “I think we’re seeing a real change in the education paradigm and we do need to stay up with it.”
Bushelow was talking about a proposal to buy iPads for the district’s eighth grade students and it’s a sentiment I agree with completely.
It won’t be long before the days of students carrying a backpack full of textbooks will seem like ancient history.
Digital tablet computers could revolutionize education, not just by digitizing textbooks, but by changing the nature of how students are taught. There will be bumps and bruises along the way, as there are always unintended consequences, but on the whole it is a process that needs to happen.
We’re not far from a day where from middle school on up, we could see paperless schools. Already most colleges and universities have gone entirely digital, with textbooks on laptops and papers submitted by email — and this has been the case for a number of years. We need to get our kids prepared not just for the future, but the reality of the present.
Hopefully, there will be no unpleasant surprises from Gov. Tom Corbett — who seems chock full of them lately — that force this tech initiative to be removed from the 2013-14 budget.
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As I’ve noted in this space previously, I think the Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education is making the wrong choice on switching the Marching Band from co-curricular to extra-curricular. The decision is expected to be formally made Tuesday night.
Attending the Patton Middle School band concert this week, which seemed to feature about 100 young and talented musicians (and that doesn’t account for the dozens of string-instrument players in the school’s orchestra), I did wonder how we reached a point with just 52 musicians in the marching band.
I’m also wondering why no other school district is making this change and why the only school district in the area that doesn’t require marching band participation for music students, Great Valley, is moving toward requiring it.
Regardless, we shall see how it works out, but I don’t think it bodes well for the marching band or the music program. I hope I’m wrong.
The pension disaster was created by Fast Eddie Rendell who, in payback for all the support, gave the public employees huge raises as well as ridiculous pension and healthcare guarantees. It is time to seriously consider doing away with all public employee unions as well as have the lazy parasites employed by government. And don’t whine that I want to do away with cops or firefighters. We all know that there are millions of government employees who provide no worth at all.
Actually, it was in 2001. Tom Ridge was governor and he had a Republican legislative majority. While undoubtedly a number of Democrats supported it, Rendell had nothing to do with it and much of the blame has to fall on the GOP.
The massive increase in costs are the result of Gov. Ridge, unrealistic assumptions on market performance and anemic market performance over the past few years. However, Gov. Rendell did kick the can down the road by essential “re-financing” the PSERS liability and under-funding it for several years. There is fault on both governors, both parties, the entrenched state establishment. At the end of the day, there is a very good reason that most private-sector employers have completely left the defined-benefit model of employee retirement compensation and have shifted to defined-contribution plans. Pennsylvania would be well-served to do the same for teachers and all newly hired public employees going forward.
Geez, Observing, your party is admitting to what it is doing: http://rslc.com/_blog/News/post/REDMAP_2012_Summary_Report
And then they pull this in Virginia yesterday:
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/va-republicans-push-through-rewrite-of-senate-districts/article_1e6faf38-e5db-5b37-b3ae-63f544108f03.html
So…really this is about anything beyond trying to control government while getting less votes?
Gerrymandering is nothing new and it is done by both parties. Furthermore, Pres. Obama received 62% of all electoral college votes despite receiving (slightly under) 53% of the popular vote with a voter turn out that was actually less then 2008. The current system actually discourages people from voting as their vote doesn’t really count. A Democrat’s pro-Obama vote in Texas doesn’t impact the award of electoral votes from that state because it is going to go for Romney. A Republican’s pro-Romney vote in Illinois doesn’t impact the award of electoral votes in that state because it is going to go for Obama. Proportionate awarding of electorate college votes actually encourages everyone to vote because even if you are in a minority within a state your vote could lead to providing some help to your candidate. It is really that simple.
Mike: It is not worth fussing over. The Republicans are only digging their own grave. In 10 years the party of the old white men will be dead. Several states will have more non-whites by 2016 and most by 2025. Non-whites are overwhelmingly registering Democratic or Independent.
We should institute term limits and do away with the electoral college. Lets look forward (D) to 21st century thinking and not back (R) to 18th century thinking.
Now that is funny. You are correct that the party of “white men”(not just old white men, but most white men) will be dead soon. Of course, so will individual freedom and first world status. You are correct that most non-whites vote D because you give them my stuff. Congratulations. It is a shame that you democrats would gladly turn the US into a third world country if it would guarantee you perpetual election victories.
How is the the same progressivism/socialism that stained the 20th century looking “forward”?
I might go along with the electorial plan…BUT…it should hold fast for all our state elections too…have Mr. Plegetti get one point for each voting precinct he carries, and one opoint to his opponent if his opponent gathers more votes in that voting precinct. The most points has the seat. fair is fair, right? If it’s good enough for electing the President, than the lower seats should be held to the same standards. Wonder what out state houses would look like under THAT plan today??
Yes … seriously. Do you think PA will ALWAYS be “blue?” Let’s assume this passes. Let’s also assume the next four years are terrible economically and that, after eight years of a Democrat is the White House, 2016 is a “Republican Year” like 2008 was. Wouldn’t this help the Democratic nominee score some electoral votes? You seem to be assuming that what is true today will be true in 4, 10 or 20 years. Furthermore, I don’t recall Joe Scarborough’s appointment as the “GOP voice of reason.”
Nebraska and Maine apportion electoral votes. I think it actually encourages people to vote. The fact that “most states don’t do it that way” doesn’t mean that most states are right in their approach.
C’mon…seriously? The only states this is being pushed in are those that have GOP controlled legislatures and voted Democratic in the last couple of presidential elections. Doing something like this nationally? Fine. Cherry picking states to do it in to stack the game? Not so fine.
And by the way, as it turns out, I’m not alone in knocking the GOP for cheating, former GOP Congressman Joe Scarborough is making the same points as it turns out.
As I see it, politics has lost civility. We still have the ability to be civil, but our willingness is gone. We would rather bully each other and manufacture spin than problem solve. Why? It’s easier to appeal to the base in an effort to force them out in the next election than identify and solve real problems. Why deal with facts when spin works?
So Mike, what do you really think??? A lot of interesting topics, most I agree with… but I think the overall point I get out of all your topics is that we, yes we, and not just the politicians have lost our common sense. Instead we, including me, want to win on every subject and the rest of you be damned!! Just like at the national level – both sides are always saying they are willing to negotiate – as long as you agree with them!! I don’t have a solution, but Mike, if you can build a basement where acoustic guitars don’t drive you nuts then maybe you do… Nice job..