City of Sonoma considers relaxing noise ordinance for generators

Looking ahead to PG&E’s potential ongoing use of its power shutoff policy during fire-threat weather-related days, Sonoma city officials are considering clarifying the city’s noise ordinance to allow for generator noise.

There are “various reasons” to amend the ordinance, including the anticipation that Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) is likely to have more Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events that will affect residents and businesses, said David Storer, planning and community services director.

The city is getting “a lot of requests” from residents and businesses to install temporary or permanent generators, he said.

“Right now the rules that we have may prohibit (generators’) efficient use during a PSPS blackout,” Storer said.

City Manager Cathy Capriola said the city did not receive any complaints about noise levels caused by generators, but she would like to address prospective issues related to generators and provide clarity to residents and businesses, and get a “pulse check” on how city council members felt about the matter.

One of the reasons city staff brought the matter before the council now rather than later is the cost of commercial generators, which Capriola said can reach into the “hundreds of thousands of dollars” and businesses need to know what restrictions might be placed on them before making such an investment.

The planning commission just approved two generators for MacArthur Place, and Storer said he expects more applications for generators to come.

They are looking at similar ordinances being adopted such as the City of Mill Valley’s that was put in place prior to PG&E’s first PSPS outage. The ordinance allows generators used commercially to be operated 24 hours a day during prolonged power shutoffs or emergencies, but recommends that they be shut off when practical to minimize the disturbance to neighbors. Residents are required to shut off the generators during the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., unless they are needed for health or medical needs.

“The goal is to provide flexibility and energy consistency to businesses and residences in the event of a loss of electricity, but also sensitivity to neighbors,” Capriola said.

The city council views the discussion on the ordinance as an opportunity to also educate community members about the proper use and storage of generators to ensure there is thought given to health and safety.

Mayor Logan Harvey suggested this is an opportune time to remind people about environmental concerns.

“PSPSes and fires are directly related to this issue of climate change,” Harvey said. “If we’re going to do outreach and do conversations about generators and things like that, it might be nice to put in some kind of verbiage…about transfer switches and solar panels as well” or use something that doesn’t burn fossil fuels as an option.

It’s one of the reasons the city passed the leaf blower ordinance to try to reduce the amount of gas fumes and noise, he said.

“We also want to bring some experts to talk about various technologies other than generators for back-up during de-energization,” Capriola said.

City staff will bring the matter back to the council at a later date once it has completed more research.

Contact Anne at anne.ernst@sonomanews.com.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited from an earlier version in order to reflect that the city currently has a noise ordinance that would regulate the use of generators and that city officials are considering exempting generator use during all or certain portions of the day.