Noise

Purpose and Introduction

Minimizing the exposure of Palm Springs residents to excessive noise is essential to maintaining a quiet, safe, and productive environment and a high quality of life. The purpose of this noise element is to outline a set of noise control policies, programs, and implementation measures that provide guidance for solving noise-related issues and problems.

Figures and Tables

Figures

Tables

Goals, Policies, and Actions

Goal NS1

Protect residential areas and other sensitive land uses from impacts
generated by exposure to excessive noise.

Policies

NS1.1	Continue to enforce acceptable noise standards consistent with health and quality of life goals established by the City and employ noise abatement measures, including the noise ordinance, applicable building codes, and subdivision and zoning regulations.
NS1.2	Encourage the application of site planning and architectural design techniques that reduce noise impacts on proposed and existing projects.
NS1.3	Utilize maximum anticipated, or “worst case,” noise conditions as the basis for land use decisions and design controls as a means of preventing future incompatibilities.
NS1.4	Evaluate the compatibility of proposed land uses with the existing noise environment when preparing, revising, or reviewing development proposals.
NS1.5	Protect noise-sensitive land uses such as schools, hospitals, and convalescent homes from unacceptable noise levels from both existing and future noise sources.
NS1.6	Require mitigation where sensitive uses are to be placed along transportation routes to ensure compliance with state noise standards.
NS1.7	Allow new developments in areas exposed to noise levels greater than 60 dB CNEL only if appropriate mitigation measures are included such that applicable noise standards are met.
NS1.8	Include measures within project design that will assure that adequate interior noise levels are attained as required by the California Building Standards Code (Title 24), California Noise Insulation Standards (Title 25) and pertinent sections of the California Building Code and the City’s Municipal Code.
NS1.9	Develop joint agreements with adjacent jurisdictions to apply standardized zoning and soundproofing requirements to reduce noise incompatibilities across jurisdictional boundaries.
NS1.10	Minimize noise spillover from commercial uses into adjacent residential neighborhoods.
NS1.11	Encourage public agencies and institutions located in the City to incorporate appropriate measures to contain noise generated by their activities on-site.

Implementation Actions

Action Number	Implementation Action/Program
NS1.1	Evaluate the City Noise Ordinance to ensure that regulations address contemporary issues.
NS1.2	Incorporate into the Zoning Ordinance and Municipal Code standards and requirements that: Protect residential units from impacts of exterior noise; Prevent the transference of interior noise to the outside; Prevent transference of noise between residential units and individual businesses in multitenant buildings; and Prevent transference of noise between commercial and residential uses in mixed-use structures. These should meet the minimum standards defined by the State Office of Noise Control. Standards for insulation, windows, building materials, and design of common walls and floors shall be included.
NS1.3	Update noise standards and criteria at least every five years to reflect new techniques to control and integrate noise control.
NS1.4	Establish a periodic monitoring program to measure changes in ambient noise levels. Should projected noise contours be modified, appropriate land use and design controls shall be applied to newly impacted areas.
NS1.5	Require that noise analyses for future developments be prepared by a qualified acoustical consultant. Studies must indicate how proposed developments are in compliance with the City noise ordinance. Studies will be reviewed by the appropriate decision-making body prior to the issuance of permits.
NS1.6	Establish design criteria for commercial buildings that prevent the transmission of significant and unacceptable noise between individual tenants and businesses.
NS1.7	Establish design criteria for multifamily buildings that prevent the transmission of significant and unacceptable noise between individual residential units.
NS1.8	Establish design criteria for mixed-use structures that prevent the transmission of significant and unacceptable noise between commercial and residential uses.
NS1.9	Explore the creation of an “entertainment zone” noise overlay in the City’s Municipal Code to address the maximum noise levels permitted in mixed-use areas or the Downtown and to provide direction for the siting of noise-generating uses (bars, restaurants, outdoor dining) to minimize the noise impacts to nearby residential units.

Goal NS2

Minimize, to the greatest extent possible, the impact of transportation related noise on residential areas and other sensitive land uses.

Policies

NS2.1	Require noise-attenuating project design or sound barriers to reduce the level of traffic-generated noise on residential and other noise sensitive land uses to acceptable levels.
NS2.2	Use traffic calming measures to reduce vehicular speeds and noise levels in residential neighborhoods.
NS2.3	Continue to enforce the noise standards of the State Motor Vehicle Code and other state and federal legislation pertaining to motor vehicle noise.
NS2.4	Require that new development minimize the noise impacts of trips it generates on residential neighborhoods by locating driveways and parking away from the habitable portions of dwellings to the greatest extent possible.
NS2.5	Require that development generating increased traffic and subsequent increases in the ambient noise levels adjacent to noise sensitive land uses provide appropriate mitigation to reduce the impact of noise.
NS2.6	Employ noise-mitigation practices, such as natural buffers or setbacks between arterial roadways and noise-sensitive areas, when designing future streets and highways, and when improvements occur along existing road segments.
NS2.7	Maintain roadways so that the paving is in good condition to reduce noise-generating cracks, bumps, and potholes.
NS2.8	Require sound walls, berms, or landscaping along existing and future freeways and railroad rights-of-way to beautify the landscape and reduce noise.
NS2.9	Support the efforts of the California Department of Transportation and local transportation agencies in developing noise-mitigation programs.
NS2.10	Require new equipment and vehicles purchased by the City to comply with noise-performance standards consistent with the best available noise-reduction technology.
NS2.11	Encourage employers to participate in vanpools and other transportation demand management programs to reduce traffic and noise impacts in the City.
NS2.12	Work with local agencies to provide public transit services that reduce traffic and noise and to ensure that the equipment they use does not generate excessive noise levels.
NS2.13	Encourage the Union Pacific railroad to minimize the level of noise produced by train movements and whistle noise within the City by reducing the number of nighttime operations, improving vehicle system technology and constructing new or developing improved sound barriers where residences exist next to the track.
NS2.14	Review and evaluate the City’s traffic-flow systems to synchronize signalization to avoid traffic stops, which produce excessive noise.
NS2.15	Locate land uses that are compatible with higher noise levels adjacent to major roads and railway corridors.
NS2.16	Restrict truck access in the City to approved truck routes and review hours of access to maximize residential and commercial activities free of truck traffic.
NS2.17	Restrict early-morning trash pickup to less-sensitive land use areas where possible and rotate early morning pickup areas where restrictions are not possible.
NS2.18	Require businesses that generate substantial parking overflow into residential areas to participate in the development of municipal or private parking structures.
NS2.19	Prohibit low-level, nonemergency overflights of helicopters in residential areas of the City to minimize noise impacts to the City’s neighborhoods.
NS2.20	Allow the development of heliports or helipads only when it can be demonstrated that noise impacts on adjacent uses can be adequately mitigated and the helicopter operation has a community-wide benefit.
NS2.21	Coordinate the routing of helicopter flights with the California Highway Patrol, the Riverside County Sherriff’s Office, the U.S. Marine Corps, Desert Hospital, and any other agency providing emergency helicopter service in the Palm Springs airspace to ensure that they do not adversely affect residential areas of the City.
NS2.22	Require that helicopters which utilize City airspace maintain noise-alleviating altitudes until landing and utilize noise-abatement procedure, except when these rules must be disregarded for safety and emergency reasons.
NS2.23	Work with the federal government to incorporate helicopter routes on the “VFR (Visual Flight Rules) Aeronautical Chart” that align with the City’s commercial corridors, such as Palm Canyon and Indian Canyon Drives.
NS2.24	Maximum compatibility between aircraft operations at Palm Springs International Airport and noise-sensitive land uses within the environs of the airport shall be achieved through compliance with the Noise Compatibility Plan of the FAR Part 150 Noise Compatibility Study.
NS2.25	Encourage and facilitate the development of alternative transportation modes that minimize noise within residential areas such as bicycle and pedestrian pathways.

Implementation Actions

Action Number	Implementation Action/Program
NS2.1	Include standards and requirements in the Zoning Ordinance for parking lots and structures to prevent noise impacts on-site and on adjacent noise-sensitive uses. These shall potentially include the use of buffers containing landscape and sound walls, enclosure of the façade of parking structures facing a residence (including hotels), limitation of the hours of operation of surface parking lots, use of sound-absorbing materials, and configuration of parking areas to minimize sound amplification and transmission.
NS2.2	Explore the creation of standards that minimize the use of paving materials that generate high levels of noise.
NS2.3	Conduct traffic studies as a part of the development review procedure for projects requiring General Plan Amendments or specific plans to evaluate the impacts of traffic and noise through residential neighborhoods. Require mitigation if ambient noise levels are adversely affected.
NS2.4	Evaluate the noise impacts of truck deliveries on adjacent residential properties as a part of the development review procedure for all commercial and manufacturing uses. Where significant impacts are identified, require the inclusion of noise-mitigation techniques such as the use of a sound wall or enclosure of delivery areas.
NS2.5	Adopt FAR Part 91 rules as the noise standard for helicopter flights in the City.
NS2.6	Consult with the California Highway Patrol, the Riverside County Sherriff’s Office, the U.S. Marine Corps, Desert Hospital, and any other agency operating helicopters in the City’s airspace to discourage familiarization flights between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
NS2.7	Require that proposed helipads demonstrate that they do not result in noise levels of 65 dBA or greater in residential areas of the City, and conduct periodic review for compliance with this standard. Failure to meet this standard should be a basis for revocation of the helipad permit.

Goal NS3

Minimize, to the greatest extent possible, the impact of non-transportation-related stationary and temporary noise on residential areas and other sensitive land uses.

Policies

NS3.1	Require that automobile and truck access to commercial properties—including loading and trash areas—located adjacent to residential parcels be located at the maximum practical distance from the residential parcel.
NS3.2	Require that parking for commercial uses adjacent to residential areas be enclosed within a structure or separated by a solid wall with quality landscaping as a visual buffer.
NS3.3	Require that parking lots and structures be designed to minimize noise impacts on-site and on adjacent uses, including the use of materials that mitigate sound transmissions and configuration of interior spaces to minimize sound amplification and transmission.
NS3.4	Minimize, to the greatest extent possible, noise impacts on adjacent residential areas from live entertainment, amplified music, or other noise associated with nearby commercial or restaurant uses.
NS3.5	Require that entertainment uses, restaurants, and bars control the activities of their patrons to the greatest extent possible to minimize noise impacts on adjacent residences.
NS3.6	Restrict, where appropriate, the development of entertainment uses and other high-noise-generating uses adjacent to residential areas, senior citizen housing, schools, health care facilities, and other noise-sensitive uses.
NS3.7	Pursue the development of municipal parking structures in commercial districts to reduce parking overflow into adjacent neighborhoods and the noise impacts associated with overflow parking.
NS3.8	Coordinate with the Police Department to determine the appropriate police enforcement efforts necessary in residential neighborhoods to minimize noise-related disturbances from entertainment, restaurants, retail, and other uses.
NS3.9	Encourage commercial uses that abut residential properties to employ techniques to mitigate noise impacts from truck deliveries, such as the use of a sound wall or enclosure of the delivery area.
NS3.10	Require that construction activities that impact adjacent residential units comply with the hours of operation and noise levels identified in the City Noise Ordinance.
NS3.11	Require that construction activities incorporate feasible and practical techniques which minimize the noise impacts on adjacent uses, such as the use of mufflers and intake silencers no less effective than originally equipped.
NS3.12	Encourage the use of portable noise barriers for heavy equipment operations performed within 100 feet of existing residences, or make applicants provide evidence as to why the use of such barriers is infeasible.
NS3.13	Require that new or replacement wind turbines be located a minimum of 500 feet from residential areas. If located between 500 and 4,500 feet from residences, an acoustical study must be submitted to show compliance with the noise standards of this plan.
NS3.14	Require any new land use proposed in the vicinity of the Southern California Gas Company blowdown facility to prepare a detailed noise analysis to determine exact noise impacts from the blowdown events. Approval of the proposed land use must be considered on the basis of a comparison of the noise levels on the site with the City Noise Ordinance.
NS3.15	Work with public agencies and institutions that maintain facilities in the City to ensure that noise generated by their activities is limited to their site. Appropriate mitigation measures such as physical enclosures and time restrictions for operation shall be implemented.
NS3.16	Allow for deviations from the noise standards for projects that are considered to be of significant importance (municipal revenue, socially valued, etc.) or contribute significant benefits to the City, provided that: The impacts can be mitigated by an acceptable compensating mechanism; and The impacts shall be reviewed with public hearings by the community and approved by the Planning Commission and City Council in conjunction with a Planned Development District.
NS3.17	Promote the use of solar energy generation systems to reduce noise impacts on the community.

Implementation Actions

Action Number	Implementation Action/Program
NS3.1	Incorporate standards in the Zoning Ordinance that address the siting of nightclubs, discotheques, and other similar uses that generate high noise levels due to their on-site operation and customer access. Standards shall: Restrict the development of nightclubs, discotheques, and other similar uses adjacent to residential areas, unless measures are implemented that sufficiently protect the residences from noise from on-site activities and customer access. Prohibit nightclubs, discotheques, and other similar uses adjacent to senior housing, health care facilities, schools, and other similar noise-sensitive uses. Require nightclubs, restaurants, bars, and other entertainment uses with high levels of nighttime activity to monitor and control noise levels of patrons waiting for admission or loitering on sidewalks and parking areas in reasonable proximity to their business. This provision shall be included as a condition of business license renewal and shall be monitored by the City, which may impose additional conditions or revoke the license if adverse noise impacts are generated on a continual basis.
NS3.2	Allocate funds for the construction of municipal parking structures from capital improvement budgets, parking assessment districts, municipal bonding, and other available methods.
NS3.3	Establish maximum noise-level specifications for City equipment for which noise is normally a consideration. Where specific noise levels cannot be set, specifications should require that vendors state maximum noise levels expected to be produced by their equipment and/or operations.
NS3.4	Contract with a qualified acoustical consultant to provide services dealing with WECS noise on an as-needed basis. The services provided may include review of acoustical studies submitted for permit approval and measurement of noise for enforcement of the City Noise Ordinance.
NS3.5	Incorporate provisions into the City Noise Ordinance to regulate noise impacts of domestic portable power equipment, such as power tools, lawn mowers, and leaf blowers.

Glossary

Ambient Noise: The composite of noise from all sources. In this context, the ambient noise level constitutes the normal or existing level of environmental (background) noise at a given location.

Intrusive Noise: Noise that intrudes over and above the existing ambient noise at a given location. The relative intrusiveness of a sound depends upon its amplitude, duration, frequency, time of occurrence, and tonal or informational content.

Noise Contours: Areas around a noise source with equal levels of noise exposure. Noise contours are drawn similar to a topographical map.

Traffic Calming and Roadway Noise: In addition to reducing average speeds through neighborhoods, traffic-calming measures contribute to reductions in noise impacts from roadways. See the Circulation Element for additional discussion on traffic calming measures.

dB (Decibel): The unit of measure for loudness based on a logarithmic scale.

dBA (A-weighted decibel): The A-weighted decibel scale discriminates against upper and lower frequencies in a manner approximating the sensitivity of the human ear. The scale ranges from zero for the average least perceptible sound to about 130 for the average pain level.

Vibration: Another community annoyance related to noise is vibration. As with noise, vibration can be described by both its amplitude and frequency.

Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL): The noise metric adopted by the State of California for describing airport noise impacts. The noise impacts are typically depicted by a set of contours, each of which represents areas of land having the same CNEL value.

Click here to return to top of page.

City of Palm Springs

Popular Searches

PALM SPRINGS 2040 GENERAL PLAN

Purpose and Introduction

Figures and Tables

Goals, Policies, and Actions

Goal NS1

Goal NS2

Goal NS3

Glossary