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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0019.025 2002-2004 To: Members of the County Council Re: Ordinance # Ibe already expressed my opposition to Matuic: TAQrnas's ~+rupo;eel ~tmbzr witrtlanuse Aad e~uiprtxrrt rental iacihty on~tht greunds os: ifs a+hr@rse effects on our community. 1'd like today its possible effects ow e+npteyet'S in t#e tra~po6ed buil~~,3 Page 6 of the the County of Hawaii Planning Department's Recommendation for this rezoning application reads, in part: Further, as defined by the Zoning Code, retail establishments shall be prohibited from having open storage yards. Therefore, all materials and rental equipment are required to be stored indoors. No outdoor displays or temporary storage containers will be allowed. All repair work and testing of rental equipment will also occur within the buildings to minimize visual and noise impacts to adjairung sEC~ivtt~ property owners. ltma.. - - ~ - y Bv, i pate--------/ / L-=---------- Among the common item stocked by equipment rental facilities are chainsaws, lawn county Go?nc41 mowers, and other items powered by small gasoline engines. If aIi equipment testing and repair is to be carried out indoors, one would presume that this i!teP.~cde5 Rpt!ir ~ maintenance of those engines. If all maintenance and repair of those engines takes place inside a closed building, there's a streng passibility t1+at N+at prdcCcBwill orzaC¢ unsafe ~rlcira$ [uryEifiarK- and ~ fail ~ meet >~+umal ssfetjr gfua;ards required by the Federal Occupati,r~yl HsaHl,a.vl Sal'rt~ Adn+i~~nstrateon, Unlike automobiles, many small gasoline engines do not have catalytic converters and other arrtipollution devices. In addition to spewing out potentially deadly carbon monoxide, such engines often produce disproportionately high levels of polyaromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs, some of wbuchdre town Wrslssgar~. rrc=riEsivdy iry r.::~clish researchers found that a single lawnmower, operated for an hour, can produce as high a level of PAHs as a modernlpfa~hi?r pso.dekcaf in 93 vtitrs 1f a s~wA gas eng~ n= is op2rat<.t ~rdo-ors- ties pallkticn Will btcarran~raftl rna small s~ase, c=eating levels of exposureexponentiat~ h~gtscrth~n;F{4asepairs.ic~sCOnductedouts~de.vri~anopen shed. Another hazard is noise~ItaliQr_ . R ~yt~crt lawnmowcrpr+T~+Zcxsa6ru$ lLiO Jeci6e(s of Snunl~ac€,atnra.rprvdKCtidta~sutl2~dezik<f5, A~2n~endlaadrrproduces86-94 decibels. A Skilukv ~rucl•~ 8$-tn2 dt~,befs This is without eohoes. Confined within a steel structure, the racket from these machines could increase exponentialty. OSHA standards allow employees without hearing protection to be exposed to 95 decibels for four hours at a time, and 105 decibels for only one hour. But according to the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades :tpartmeat, ©ee ~nfirz le<aple Comm. No. • File No. ~ _ Re xef. Date JAN 0 8 2003 exposed to only 90 decibels will experience ~tnfe lwf!ittg kss-and 4vr.f~u[5ks of very loud noise can be among the most harmful. Moving repair and maintenance activities indoors is not true mitigs':ieXl- ~Q!/'CQ Sir~p~ trap ferrtl~fAcnaiZ-?ate 1-o11ution from outdoors to indoors, and concentrating both hazards. If the Planning Department's recommensFsitjncmrr~9;or~e~(, fhs~j mty »~eet the ttttrr a€ the ~'4ttrty zrZ++in~ ~WS byE.r¢;.ting an unsafe and possibly illegal work environment. Moving these activities indoors cou14 tonsent6~ft: a rnisance±h;¢ a gernerrrtdanger. This plan is not welt thought out. Sincerely, Alan D. McNarie