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5.7 NOISE 5.7.6.3 Local LORS The California State Planning Law (California Government Code Section 65302) requires that all cities,counties,and entities (such as multi-city port authorities) prepare and adopt a General Plan to guide community development. The Noise Element in the City of Lodi s General Plan established land use compatibility guidelines depicted in Table 5.7-13. This states that noise levels of less than 60 dBA CNEL are presumed acceptable at residential uses and that levels between 60 and 65 dBA CNEL are conditionally acceptable. Section 9.24 of the City's Municipal Code is generally a nuisance based noise ordinance. The most restrictive and applicable portion of this code states that"it is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to cause,permit,or generate any noise or sound as described herein between the hours of ten p.m. and seven a.m. which exceeds the ambient noise level at the property line of any residential property (or,if a condominium or apartment house within any adjoining apartment) as determined at the time of such reading by more than five decibels. This section shall be applicable whether such noise or sound is of a commercial or noncommercial nature." The ambient noise level is defined as"the all-encompassing noise associated with a given environment,usually being a composite of sounds with many sources near and far as determined at any specific point" which is typical defined by the Leq statistic. As described in Section 5.6,Land Use,the project site is in the City of Lodi but borders San Joaquin County,and the closest residences are in San Joaquin County. The applicable noise regulations are those of the City,because the source of the noise will be located in Lodi. The San Joaquin County Code (Section 9-1025.9) establishes noise limits in terms of hourly average Leq and maximum levels at noise sensitive outdoor activity areas. The daytime (7 a.m. to 10 p.m.) hourly average and maximum limits are 50 and 70 dBA respectively. The nighttime (10 p.m. to 7 a.m.) hourly and maximum levels are 45 and 65 dBA respectively. These standards may be applied at the property line of the receiving noise sensitive use and shall be reduced by 5 dBA for impulsive, single tone noise or noise consisting primarily of speech or music. In addition, the county code exempts construction noise from these limitations between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. The County General Plan requirements are consistent with the numeric limits described above. TABLE 5.7-13 City of Lodi Land Use Compatibility Guidelines(CNEL) Presumed Conditionally Normally Presumed Land Use Category Acceptable Acceptable Unacceptable Unacceptable Residential, including <60 60-65 65-75 75+ Apartments and Mobile Homes Motels, Hotels, Other Transient <60 60-70 70-75 75+ Lodgings, Hospitals and Convalescent Facilities; Schools, Libraries, Churches and Meeting Halls Theaters,Auditoriums, Concert <65 65-70 70-75 75+ Halls SAC/371322/08234009(LEC_5.7_NOISE.DOC) 5.7-19