ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
August
8,
1991
VILLAGE OF MATTESON,
)
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB 90—146
(Enforcement)
WORLD
MUSIC
THEATRE,
)
JAN
PRODUCTIONS,
LTD.,
)
DISCOVERY
SOUTH GROUP, LTD.,
)
and
GIE~CZYKDEVELOPMENT,
INC.,
)
)
Respondents.
ORDER
OF
THE
BOARD
(by B.
Forcade):
On July 22,
1991, the Village of Matteson (“Matteson”)
filed
a Petition for Interim Relief.
That Petition asserts various
continuing nuisance and numerical sound violations and notes an
instantaneous radio feedback loop between the sound monitoring
technicians and the World Music Theatre (the respondents are
collectively called “Theatre”) which allows adjusting the sound
at the source to produce lower sound values.
In its petition
Matteson seeks
a declaration that the instantaneous radio
feedback loop violates both the spirit and the letter of the
Board’s April 25,
1991 Order.
Matteson seeks an Order
prohibiting such feedback loop and requiring additional
monitoring without such feedback.
In the alternative, Matteson
seeks clarification of the method for determining improvements at
the Theatre.
Matteson does not seek an Order compelling any
noise reduction activities at the theatre prior to the submission
of the August report on sound monitoring. The Board issued an
Order on July 25,
199.
which did not dispose of this motion.
On July 29,
1991, Theatre filed a response to the motion
opposing any additional relief.
Theatre agrees that monitoring
personnel use radios to communicate with the Theatre and that
such information is used as a noise control option to prevent
violations of 35 Ill.
Adm. Code 901.102.
Theatre asserts that:
(1) the radio feedback loop implements the spirit and letter of
the Board’s April 25,
1991,
Interim Order rather than violating
it,
(2) the Matteson motion contains no competent evidence of
violations or severe sound disruption
—
a prerequisite for
interim relief, and
(3)
the feedback loop does not compromise
data collection and serves to avoid noise violations.
Natteson
asserts that any relief at this time would be premature in that
the
final
report
is
due
August
2,
1991.
Matteson’s motion is denied at this time insofar as it
requests an Order prohibiting such feedback loop and requiring
additional monitoring without such feedback.
The Interim Order
did
not
prohibit Theatre from taking actions to control sound
125—09
2
volume in an attempt to eliminate either numerical violations or
citizen complaints.
Such actions could reasonably include radio
communications from a sound monitoring location.
The Board takes
no position on whether participation in such feedback loop by an
“independent consultant”
is appropriate.
More importantly, the
Board does not today evaluate any aspect of the numerical data
submitted or the meaning of such data.
The impact of a feedback
loop on the significance of the data is a matter better left to
the parties for evaluation as part of the interaction regarding
the final report.
Regarding Matteson’s request for clarification, the Board
believes the purpose of sound monitoring is adequately explained
in the Interim Order:
The
Board
will
also
require meaningful
and
effective noise monitoring by an independent
consultant.
That monitoring can be utilized
to evaluate compliance with existing numerical
regulatory limitations on sound emissions, and
it
also
can
be used
as
an
effective
focal
point
for evaluating
future
sound
abatement
activities which may or may not be necessary.
Interim Order,
p.
37
The Interim Order repeatedly identified “turning down the
amplifiers” as a method of sound control.
The Board cannot
foreclose a radio feedback loop as one component of a possible
future sound abatement activity.
On August
6,
1991, the final report was filed with the
Board.
A preliminary review of the report indicates that it does
not contain the
material required in the Board’s Order of July
25,
1991
Because
of the dispute that has arisen
regarding
the
legitimacy
of
the data
being
collected, the Board will require World Music
Theatre
to ensure
that
all
raw
uncorrected
data
acquired
in
this monitoring
effort
be
preserved and that copies of such raw data be
provided to Matteson and included in the final.
report.
In
addition,
World
Music
Theatre
shall prepare a log of the time and content of
all
communications
between
the
monitoring
locations
and
the
Theatre,
including
any
actions taken
by the Theatre to alter noise
levels
being
recorded,
as
a
result
of
such
conversations.
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3
The Board will allow the Theatre until August 20,
1991 to
provide copies of the one—hour Leq spectra (which must include
instantaneous values prior to any correction or averaging over
time),
the log of time and content of any conversation, and any
actions taken by Theatre as a result.
On one additional matter, the Board received a public
comment in this proceeding on July 30,
1991.
That comment
consisted of a July 26,
1991 certified letter from the Illinois
Environn~entalProtection Agency (“Agency”) to the hearing officer
and attorneys for both parties.
That letter recited the
inclusion of several documents,
but no documents were enclosed.
On August 5,
1991,
a revised version of the comment was filed
which did have several enclosures.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy M. Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board
.
hereby certify that the above Order was adopted on~e
_____
day of
__________________,
1991,
by a vote of
/O
Control Board
125—11