How depressing is that. When you're planning to pack tens of thousands of new residents into existing suburbs, living cheek by jowl with one another, an obvious first step would surely have been to ensure such universal irritants as neighbourhood noise were nipped in the bud. That means ensuring the liveability of the new intensive suburbs by limiting the irritating whirrings and droning from the heat pumps and spa pool motors for one.
The draft plan acknowledges as much in its first two principles:
"1. Set noise standards to reflect the zone's function and permitted activities, recognising the potential adverse effects noise generation may have on more sensitive adjacent zones.
2. Minimise, where practical, noise at its source to mitigate adverse effects on adjacent properties."
But having said this, the unitary plan then sets the maximum noise levels to be permitted in residential Auckland at the upper-most limits of the range set out in the New Zealand Standards.
The NZ Standards' recommended range of noise limits for residentially zoned sites is between 45-55 dBA Leq during the day and 35-45 dBA Leq at night, with a maximum burst of sound of 70-75 dBA. To explain. Noise is measured in decibels (dBA). Leq stands for "equivalent continuous level" and represents the "averaging" of a continuous, but variable level of sound. Instead of aiming for the quietest possible standard, the designers of the world's most liveable city have taken the easy way out.
For any non-residential activity measured at the boundary of a residential property, the dBA Leq from 7am to 10pm can be 55dBA, falling to 45dBA at night and Sundays, with a maximum of 75dBA. For noise created within residential zones, the maximum level allowed at the next door boundary is 5dBA less all round.
The old Auckland City used a slightly different system for measuring decibel levels which I'll leave for another time. But a leading acoustician tells me the proposed 55/45 dBA upper maximum referred to in the first example is 6 to 8 decibels louder than the present Auckland City maximum, and the new 50/40 noise cap, 3 decibels louder.
The new rules have a varied assortment of upper noise limits for everything from bird scarers to wind turbines. They even require that, where a bedroom window in a mixed zone can't be left open at night because the noise outside is more than 35 dBA, the landlord must supply an air-conditioning system providing 15 air changes an hour.
It does seem odd that 35dBA is considered too noisy for sleeping in a mixed zone - which includes commercial activity - yet a higher cap is acceptable in the fully residential zones.
As someone who, in the past, has been driven crazy by the night-and-day whine and drone of a commercial refrigerator condenser, I know how easily unwanted noise can make one's environment unliveable.
In creating the brave new world of compact Auckland, we should be aiming for best possible practice. At the very worst we should at least be trying to match existing standards, not going for something even worse.
