HomeMy WebLinkAbout8.PROJ-26-0049 Noise StudyEnvironmental Noise Assessment
Feather Falls Casino Verizon Cellular Facility
Oroville (Butte County), California
BAC Job #2025-125
Prepared For:
Complete Wireless Consulting, Inc.
Prepared By:
Bollard Acoustical Consultants, Inc.
Dario Gotchet
Vice President
Board Elected Member, INCE-USA (ID#20964)
December 1, 2025
Attn: Alliyah Muhammad
Project Coordinator
2009 V Street
Sacramento, CA 95818
Bollard Acoustical Consultants, Inc. | P.O. Box 7968, Auburn, CA 95604 | P: (530) 537-2328 | bacnoise.com
Bollard Acoustical Consultants, Inc.
Environmental Noise Assessment
Feather Falls Casino Verizon Cellular Facility – Butte County, California
Page 1
Introduction
The Feather Falls Casino Verizon Wireless Unmanned Telecommunications Facility (project)
proposes the installation of cellular equipment within a lease area located northwest of the
intersection of Ophir Road and Upper Palermo Road in Oroville (Butte County), California (APN:
078-080-013). The proposed outdoor equipment cabinet and emergency standby diesel
generator have been identified as the primary noise sources associated with the project. The
project location with aerial imagery is shown in Figure 1. The studied site drawings are dated
November 26, 2025.
Bollard Acoustical Consultants, Inc. has been contracted by Complete Wireless Consulting, Inc.
to complete an environmental noise assessment regarding the proposed project cellular
equipment operations. Specifically, the following assessment addresses daily noise production
and exposure associated with operation of the project emergency generator and outdoor
equipment cabinet. Please refer to Appendix A for definitions of acoustical terminology used in
this report. Appendix B illustrates common noise levels associated with various sources.
Criteria for Acceptable Noise Exposure
Butte County General Plan 2040
The Health and Safety Element of the Butte County General Plan 2040 establishes acceptable
noise level standards for various land uses affected by non-transportation noise sources, such as
the project equipment. The County’s non-transportation noise level standards are contained in
Table HS-3 of the General Plan, which has been reproduced in this report as Table 1.
Table 1
Maximum Allowable Noise Exposure to Non-Transportation Noise Sources
Noise Level Descriptor
Daytime
(7am to 7pm)
Evening
(7pm to 10 pm)
Night
(10pm to 7am)
DESIGNATION
Urban Non-Urban Urban Non-Urban Urban Non-Urban
Hourly, Leq (dB) 55 50 50 45 45 40
Maximum, Lmax (dB) 70 60 60 55 55 50
1 “Non-Urban” designations are Agriculture, Timber Mountain, Resource Conservation, Foothill Residential, and Rural
Residential. All other designations are considered “urban” for the purposes of regulating noise exposure.
2 Each of the noise levels specified above shall be lowered by 5 dB for simple tone noises, noises consisting primarily of speech
or music, or for recurring impulsive noises. These noise level standards do not apply to residential units established in
conjunction with industrial or commercial uses (e.g., caretaker dwellings).
3 The County can impose noise level standards which are up to 5 dB less than those specified above based upon determination
of existing low ambient noise levels in the vicinity of the project site.
4 In urban areas, the exterior noise level standard shall be applied to the property line of the receiving property. In rural areas,
the exterior noise level standard shall be applied at a point 100 feet away from the residence. The above standards shall be
applied only on property containing a noise-sensitive land use. This standard may be amended to provide for measurement at
the boundary of a recorded noise easement between all affected property owners and approved by the County.
5 If the ambient noise level exceeds that permitted by any of the categories in this table, the allowable noise limit shall be
increased in 5 dB increments in that category to encompass the ambient noise level.
Source: Butte County General Plan 2040, Table HS-3
Legend
Figure 10150300
Scale (feet)
Proposed Verizon Cellular Facility Lease Area (Approximate Location)
Feather Falls Casino Verizon Cellular Facility
Butte County, California
Project Vicinity
Parcel Boundary (Approximate Location)
078-080-013
(Project Parcel)
078-080-026
Rural Residential (RR-5)
Non-Urban
General
Commercial (G-C)
General
Commercial (G-C)
079-240-004
Low Density Residential (LDR)
UrbanUpper Palermo Rd
Bollard Acoustical Consultants, Inc.
Environmental Noise Assessment
Feather Falls Casino Verizon Cellular Facility – Butte County, California
Page 3
Project Noise Generation
As discussed previously, there are two project noise sources which are considered in this
evaluation: the equipment cabinet cooling system and the emergency diesel generator. The
evaluation of potential noise impacts associated with the operation of each noise source is
evaluated separately as follows:
Equipment Cabinets and Reference Sound Level
The project proposes the installation of one (1) outdoor equipment cabinet within the equipment
lease area shown in Figure 1. Based on a review of the project site plans, the cabinet assumed
for the project is a Commscope CMC-85-36 power/battery cabinet. According to the
manufacturer’s sound level data specification sheet (provided as Appendix C), the proposed
cabinet has a reference sound pressure level of 60 dB at 5 feet.
Emergency Generator and Reference Sound Level
The project also proposes the installation of an emergency standby diesel generator within the
lease area to maintain cellular service during emergency power outages. According to the project
site plans, the generator proposed for installation at this site is a Kohler Model 30REOZK.
According to the manufacturer sound level data sheets, provided as Appendix D, the reference
sound pressure levels for proposed generator are 79 dB at 23 feet when equipped with a weather
enclosure, and 65 dB at 23 feet when equipped with a sound enclosure. For this analysis, it is
conservatively assumed that the project generator will be equipped with the manufacturer’s
weather enclosure, resulting in a reference sound pressure level of 79 dB at 23 feet.
The generator which is proposed at this site would only operate during emergencies (power
outages) and brief daytime periods for periodic maintenance/lubrication. According to the project
applicant, testing of the generator would occur twice per month, during daytime hours only, for a
duration of approximately 15 minutes. The emergency generator would not operate at night,
except during power outages. It is expected that nighttime operation of the project generator (i.e.,
during an emergency) would be exempt from the County’s exterior noise exposure criteria due to
the need for continuous cellular service provided by the project equipment.
Predicted Facility Equipment Noise Levels at Nearest Noise-Sensitive Land Uses
The closest noise-sensitive land uses to the cellular facility lease area have been identified as
residentially-zoned parcels (rural residential and low-density residential) located south and
southeast of the project property. The locations of the residentially-zoned parcels are shown in
Figure 1. Pursuant to footnote 1 of Table 1, rural residential land uses are defined as “non-urban”
designations – low-density residential is considered an “urban” designation. Additionally, pursuant
to footnote 4 of Table 1, the County’s noise level standards in rural areas are to be applied at a
point 100 feet away from a residence. In urban areas, the County’s noise level limits are to be
applied at the property line of the receiving parcel.
Using the provided site plans and Butte County GIS viewer for scaling distances, and assuming
standard spherical spreading loss (-6 dB per doubling of distance), project-equipment noise
exposure at the nearest noise-sensitive land uses was calculated and the results of those
Bollard Acoustical Consultants, Inc.
Environmental Noise Assessment
Feather Falls Casino Verizon Cellular Facility – Butte County, California
Page 4
calculations are presented in Table 2. Satisfaction with the County’s noise level limits at the
closest noise-sensitive land uses would ensure compliance and more distant noise-sensitive land
uses.
Table 2
Summary of Project-Related Noise Exposure at the Nearest Noise-Sensitive Land Uses
APN1
Distance
(ft)2
Predicted Noise Level (dB)
County Noise
Standard
Cabinet, Leq Generator, Lmax Leq Lmax
078-080-026: Rural Res-Non Urban 750 <20 49 40 60
079-240-004: Low Density Res-Urban 760 <20 49 45 70
1 Locations of residential parcels are shown in Figure 1.
2 Distances scaled from equipment lease area to a point 100’ from residence (non-urban) and property line
(urban) using the provided site plans and Butte County GIS viewer.
Source: BAC 2025
Because the cooling fans of the proposed equipment cabinet could potentially be in operation
continuously during warm nighttime hours, noise exposure from the cabinet was appropriately
assessed relative to Butte County General Plan nighttime hourly average (Leq) noise level criteria
in Table 1. As indicated in Table 2, predicted outdoor equipment cabinet noise levels of less than
20 dB Leq at the closest noise-sensitive land uses (residential) would satisfy applicable General
Plan urban and non-urban nighttime hourly average (Leq) noise level criteria by a wide margin.
Project representatives have indicated that the proposed generator would be in operation for
routine testing and maintenance twice a month during daytime hours for no more than 15 minutes
and would only operate at night during emergencies. Because the project generator would only
operate during daytime hours for brief periods required for testing and maintenance, the operation
of the generator was assessed relative to the Butte County General Plan daytime maximum noise
level criteria in Table 1. As shown in Table 2, predicted generator noise levels of 49 dB Lmax at
the closest noise-sensitive land uses (residential) would comply with applicable General Plan
urban and non-urban daytime maximum (Lmax) noise level standards by a wide margin.
Conclusion
Based on the analysis and results presented in this assessment, project-related equipment noise
exposure is expected to satisfy applicable Butte County General Plan noise level standards at the
closest noise-sensitive land uses. As a result, consideration of noise mitigation measures would
not be warranted for the project equipment for compliance with Butte County General Plan noise
level criteria.
This concludes our environmental noise assessment for the proposed Feather Falls Casino
Verizon Cellular Facility in Oroville (Butte County), California. Please contact BAC at (530) 537-
2328 or dariog@bacnoise.com with any questions or requests for additional information.
Appendix A
Acoustical Terminology
Acoustics The science of sound.
Ambient Noise The distinctive acoustical characteristics of a given space consisting of all noise sources
audible at that location. In many cases, the term ambient is used to describe an existing
or pre-project condition such as the setting in an environmental noise study.
Attenuation The reduction of an acoustic signal.
A-Weighting A frequency-response adjustment of a sound level meter that conditions the output
signal to approximate human response.
Decibel or dB Fundamental unit of sound. A Bell is defined as the logarithm of the ratio of the sound
pressure squared over the reference pressure squared. A Decibel is one-tenth of a
Bell.
CNEL Community Noise Equivalent Level. Defined as the 24-hour average noise level with
noise occurring during evening hours (7 - 10 p.m.) weighted by a factor of three and
nighttime hours weighted by a factor of 10 prior to averaging.
Frequency The measure of the rapidity of alterations of a periodic signal, expressed in cycles per
second or hertz.
IIC Impact Insulation Class (IIC): A single-number representation of a floor/ceiling partition’s
impact generated noise insulation performance. The field-measured version of this
number is the FIIC.
Ldn Day/Night Average Sound Level. Similar to CNEL but with no evening weighting.
Leq Equivalent or energy-averaged sound level.
Lmax The highest root-mean-square (RMS) sound level measured over a given period of time.
Loudness A subjective term for the sensation of the magnitude of sound.
Masking The amount (or the process) by which the threshold of audibility is for one sound is
raised by the presence of another (masking) sound.
Noise Unwanted sound.
Peak Noise The level corresponding to the highest (not RMS) sound pressure measured over a
given period of time. This term is often confused with the “Maximum” level, which is the
highest RMS level.
RT60 The time it takes reverberant sound to decay by 60 dB once the source has been
removed.
STC Sound Transmission Class (STC): A single-number representation of a partition’s noise
insulation performance. This number is based on laboratory-measured, 16-band (1/3-
octave) transmission loss (TL) data of the subject partition. The field-measured version
of this number is the FSTC.
Appendix C
Appendix D-1
Generator Sound Level Data
Appendix D-2
Generator Sound Level Data