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4. Environmental I npacts project would comply with the City of Santa Ana's municipal code section 18-314 limiting the hours for which construction would occur, the City exempts noise produced during construction activities, As such, project related construction activities would not result in significant noise impacts prior to mitigation. 4.2 OPERATION NOISE IMPACTS The operations phase of the project would involve noise generated from gas station customers purchasing/pumping fuel, purchasing items from the convenience store and using the automated car wash, Noise associated with customers purchasing fuel entails vehicle ingress/egress, door slams, car starts and possibly speech, Noise from customers purchasing and pumping gasoline would not change from existing conditions and as such would not represent a significant increase in noise. The majority of customers using the project's convenience store would also be those that are purchasing gasoline and as such would not generate any additional noise than those purchasing fuel. Those customers that pass by and only purchase items from the convenience store would not generate substantial levels of noise due to the low speeds of vehicles accessing the project site and the very short duration and magnitude of noise generated by engine starts and door slams compared to the existing noise environment. The primary source of noise associated with the operation of the proposed would be from customers utilizing the automated car wash. The automated car wash generates noise from sprayers that apply detergent and water, brushes (if used), blowers used to dry the car and equipment used in the car wash process. Two different types of automated car washes are being considered by the project developer, One utilizes the Mark VII automated car wash system which is a freestanding car wash. Freestanding car wash equipment are situated on a track that moves along the entire extent of the car spraying water, detergent and blowing dry the vehicle, Noise measurements of a Mark VII car wash in Fountain Valley were taken on February 24 and shown in Table 4-2. The loudest portion of the Mark VII wash process is the pressurized water sprayers and the air blower. The second automated car wash equipment being considered by the project developer is the Ryko car wash system which employs water sprayers and cloth brushes that operate along the entire extent of the car being washed. After the car is washed, the driver of the car slowly drives the car to a fixed place blower which dries the car as it passes. The loudest portion of the Ryko car wash process is the blower. Noise measurements were also obtained of the Ryko car wash equipment in the City of Garden Grove on March 7, 2005. ~ Based on Article 6, Section 18-312, the City of Santa Ana has established maximum hourly exterior noise standards for the hours of 7 AM to 10 PM, The proposed car wash activity would occur from 7 AM to 9 PM. The hourly noise levels of the two sets of car wash equipment being considered was calculated based on a peak number of 10 car washes per hour'. As shown in Table 4-2, the calculated hourly noise levels would exceed the City's exterior noise standard for either type of car wash system, As such, the automated car wash would result in a significant impact to the noise environment prior to the application of mitigation measures. Compliance with Article 6, Section 18-313, which involve interior noise standards, will be achieved by the proposed project because typically residential structures provide 12 dB noise attenuation with windows open from exterior to interior noise levels. With windows closed, a 24 dB noise reduction can be expected2, With this level of noise attenuation, the City's interior noise standard can be achieved with either the windows open or windows closed, , Based on an estimate of car washes per hour at an existing automated car wash owned by of David Shamtoub, located at 25800 S. Westem Avenue, Harbor City. 2 Environmental Protection Agency, Protective Noise Levels, 1974. Technical Noise Study for Mobil Oil Station/Car Wash Expamion The Planning Center March 2005 . Page] 5 fd: 'IS11 /1,'\ I ~() 1 ,()I:'\S;'dm/IJ/(Ji _,\J'oj.t Rfjllirl-I'-' ;\'/1' ..d'Ji 31A'a~ 01