Office of Planning, Environment, & Realty (HEP)
Planning • Environment • Real Estate
The town of Gilbert, Arizona has a Santan Freeway Corridor Overlay District (PDF 24KB) plan that requires notification when development will be within 1000 feet of the highway. The 6 pages discuss developer built noise walls, interior noise levels, and wording placed in plat plans.
The 2025 City of Truckee General Plan (PDF - 6.3Mb) document is regarding all sources of noise in general, with elements for roadways. The document explains California's NCP law and was written to assist local communities to provide guidance for the development of municipal noise elements. It offers several options, such as site design, insulation, and addressing noise in the planning and permitting process.
The San Diego General Plan Update of February 2006 (PDF - 57KB) has a noise element on page 9 and 10 with a goal of limiting future residential and other noise sensitive land uses in areas exposed to high levels of noise.
This document is the City of San Diego's General Plan: Noise Element (PDF - 89KB that addresses all noise sources. Compatibility of residential development is listed for existing sound levels. The noise element of the plan relating to roadway noise starts on page 4, Section B. There is also a section on noise attenuation measures, at the source and receiver, starting on Page 15, Section H.
The NAPA County General Plan: Noise Element (PDF - 659KB) also involves noise from all sources. Noise studies were performed to establish existing noise levels and estimate future noise levels and offer setback distances for roadway improvements. Estimates of future noise levels were based on traffic volumes and speeds. The NCP section starts on Page 11-33. Page 11-36 has an excellent table regarding interior noise levels for many uses.
Kern County (CA) General Plan Noise Element (PDF - 84KB) deals with all sources of noise. Implementation methods are on page 148. Methods to deal with noise sensitive receivers starts on page 149. The highway traffic noise contours are in Appendix G (PDF 47Mb).
The City of Tiburon Government Code Section 65302(f) (PDF 101KB) requires that current and projected noise levels be analyzed and quantified for highways, freeways, primary arterials, and major local streets. The law requires that noise contours, shown in terms of community noise equivalent level (CNEL) or day-night average level (Ldn), be prepared on the basis of noise monitoring or following generally accepted noise modeling techniques. The existing and projected noise level contours, based on existing and projected traffic, are shown in Diagrams 7.1-1 and 7.1-2.
The City of Big Bear Lake General Plan (PDF - 27Mb) has several NCP programs, for many noise sources. Program N 1.1.1 requirement is on the land use and zoning maps, designate noise-sensitive uses in areas away from noise generators, and locate noise-compatible uses near existing and future air and highway transportation noise sources, to the extent feasible. They have specifically defined that the planning agency is responsible for this action. They have many other noise programs worth examining. The noise element of the General Plan can be found at http://citybigbearlake.com/downloads/planning/General_Plan.pdf (PDF - 27Mb) and going to Page 216 of 414 in the Adobe page counter.
The City of Sonoma General Plan has a noise element that intends to provide ways to reduce existing and future noise conflicts. It includes policies and measures to achieve noise compatibility between land uses. In accordance with State Law and guidelines, the Element identifies noise sources and areas containing noise sensitive land uses. It quantifies noise levels using noise exposure contours for current and projected conditions within the county. Levels are measured as Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL) or the Day-Night Average Level (Ldn), which are measurements of total noise exposure at a given location for an average day. This noise exposure information serves as a basis for achieving land use compatibility within each community and provides baseline levels and noise source identification for use in a noise control ordinance.
Many Maryland Counties have noise elements in their general plan, but they are not available online. If desired, one may contact the FHWA noise team to request to receive a copy of the plans for these Maryland counties. Please provide mailing address.
The County of Frederick Regional Plan (PDF - 1.9Mb) has a noise element in their general plan that states: Several locations in the Frederick Region adjacent to major highways have had to mitigate the noise by means of walls or berms and plantings. The pre-planning for noise abatement must be given more emphasis as development continues in this most urbanized of regions. All new developments occurring within the Frederick Region, which contain noise sensitive uses including, but not limited to, residential uses, hospitals, and schools, shall be designed to ensure that no noise sensitive use will be exposed to highway noise levels which exceed adopted Maryland Department of Transportation highway noise standards.
This section of the plan is specifically Guidelines for Evaluating and Mitigating Highway Noise Impacts (PDF - 591Kb) and offers noise abatement criteria for differing land uses.
The research report Traffic Noise in Montana: Community Awareness and Recommendations for a Rural State (PDF 5.46MB) is a detailed examination of land use planning and development processes and procedures within the State of Montana has been completed, including discussions with a number of local agency planners. This document is a comprehensive compilation of States and cities NCP activities. Additionally, two surveys were developed and administered: one for citizens living near busy roads in four Montana urban areas and one for local Montana planners. The surveys deal with people's perceptions of noise and noise mitigation, and interest in noise-compatible planning and development. The analysis of the survey data, the literature, and the practice has resulted in a number of recommendations to MDT regarding implementation of noise-compatible planning and development in Montana. The NCP discussion starts on page 48 and the survey discussion on page 114.
The New York State Thruway website has a page regarding noise issues, including barriers and NCP. Their Type II barrier program has requirements on a portion of the development being built before the certain dates and within 200 feet of the highway edge and also a brief section on how to implement NCP.
Ohio's research report titled Consideration of Land Use Planning in the ODOT Noise Abatement Process, I-675, Greene County, OH (PDF - 22MB) is an 89 page document describing the noise measurement process, including future predictions and contour development for sites adjacent to I-675.
Ohio's research report for the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission titled Noise Along Roadway Corridors: Strategies for Mitigation (PDF - 868KB) is a 47 page document describing Phase II of the previous report, noted above. The objective of Phase II is to educate local jurisdictions about the findings of the Phase I study and assist them in implementing planning and/or legislative measures to address such impacts. The document refers to some example ordinances and discusses strategies of NCP.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has a document titled Sound Land Use Planning For Your Community: Model Ordinance Language for Addressing Traffic Noise (PDF - 1.8MB) to assist communities in developing noise zoning strategies, including Planned Residential Development (PRD), overlay districts, setbacks, and conditional use/special use. Also, definitions of terms that may be used in developing municipal land use ordinances are presented.
While not available online, the City of San Antonio's subdivision plats state, "For residential development directly adjacent to State right of way, the Developer shall be responsible for adequate set-back and/or sound abatement measures for future noise mitigation."
South Dakota has initiated a Proactive Noise Avoidance and Mitigation Measures research project because of the need to consider a range of options and strategies to educate and encourage noise compatible planning in the vicinity of all highways but particularly new or expanded highways. A video to educate local governments is an intended outcome of the research.
The Fairfax County Policy Plan (PDF - 172Kb) has a noise element on pages 9 and 10 that establishes noise level limits for new and existing development along existing highways. These noise level limits are based on the Ldn metric and come from "Guidelines for Considering Noise in Land Use Planning and Control". New development in the 65-75 dBA Ldn range requires mitigation and no development shall be in zones with a 75 dBA Ldn or higher.
TR News: Transportation Noise: Measures and Countermeasures September-October 2005 issue has many interesting articles about transportation noise, but has several articles regarding NCP near highways.
