ELY- City officials and representatives of the Zup’s grocery store here have resolved noise complaints stemming from a minor violation of the state’s sound ordinance.
In July, an Ely resident with a home in the 1500 block of Harvey St. contacted the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency alleging that the compressors behind the new Zup’s store were too loud. The city received a complaint as well, on Sept. 12, again from a resident in the same area of Harvey Street.
The complaints prompted the city to purchase a sound measuring meter and its associated calibration equipment which was good enough to satisfy Minnesota’s sound nuisance regulations (Minn. Rule 7030).
“The reason Ely doesn’t have its own sound ordinance is because we follow Minnesota’s strict noise laws,” Ely Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski told the Timberjay. Minnesota is one of 20 states that regulates non-occupational noise. Most of those regulate road noise but Minnesota is one of a handful that regulates residential noise and one of three that regulates noise pollution everywhere.
“After the MPCA contacted us in late July, we purchased the Gain Express [brand] sound measuring equipment and measured the sound levels across [15th Ave.] from Zup’s,” said Ely Building Inspector Dave Huberty. The city followed the measurement protocol dictated by the MPCA, measuring both day and night noise levels.
Minnesota regulations state that during the one-hour sound test, daytime noise levels cannot exceed 65 decibels (dB) for more than 10 percent of the time (L10 test) or 60 dB more than 50 percent of the time (L50 test) for residential properties. The test must be repeated at night, where noise levels cannot exceed 55 dB for more than 10 percent of the time or 50 dB more than 50 percent of the time.
According to the MPCA, most vacuum cleaners produce between 65 to 70 dB at a distance of three yards. Someone talking in a normal voice produces around 60 dB at one yard.
“We tested on July 25 for daytime levels, and measured 52.3 dB for the L50 and 53.6 dB for the L10,” Huberty told the Timberjay. “We tested the nighttime values on July 27, and measured 51.9 dB for the L10 and 50.5 dB for the L50. That was over because the nighttime L50 limit is 50.”
The failed L50 test put Zup’s on notice to quiet their compressors. Ely Zup’s manager Jim Zupancich told the Timberjay that the store attempted two times to find noise suppression that worked. The second attempt got the sound generated below the legal limits.
“Nordic Mechanical built buffer boxes around the compressors and that worked,” Zupancich said.
City officials agree. “We came back and measured on Nov. 20,” said Huberty, who did most of the testing work. “The daytime L10 was 37.8 dB and the L50 was 35.5 Db. The nighttime L10 was 42.9 dB and the L50 was 41.3.” All those readings were well below the noise limits set by the state.
It’s not the first time that Zup’s has added sound suppressing fencing around its compressors. Zup’s installed similar protection at its Tower store many years ago to address sound complaints there as well. The installation lowered the sound levels and resolved the complaint.
The MPCA has a guide to the state’s noise rules, including for residential, roads, ATVs, snowmobiles, and watercraft, at https://www.pca.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/p-gen6-01.pdf.