Watch out for Drew, because Drew won't be watching out for you!

Drew University generates LOTS of noise pollution. With all of the vehicles used to service the campus and the associated vehicular backup alert sirens, the Drew University campus regularly sounds like a construction site. Keeping this noise within campus would be one thing, but it unfortunately spills out into the neighboring community.

When asked about ways to curtail some of this excessive noise, Greg Smith, the Assistant Vice President for Facilities and Campus Operations, included the following statement in his response:

"Drew University prides itself on being a responsible neighbor."

Let's see how that responsibility plays out.

SPOILER ALERT: Watch out for Drew, because Drew won't be watching out for you!

If you're considering Drew University in any way, beware: you might be at the receiving end of similar responsible behavior from Drew University. Their definition of "responsible" might be their standard way of doing business, or perhaps it's the result of cutting corners given their current budget issues. Alternatively, this might all just be the result of Greg Smith's master plan, who began working at Drew in October 2016. Regardless of the root cause, tread with caution and beware of Drew University!

For the cost of a college degree, there are many alternative and more respectable institutions of higher education that would never allow the following events to transpire on their campus. As an added bonus, your time spent at these alternative institutions would be a lot more peaceful!

Some History

I moved into my current house in the summer of 2018. Prior to that, the house was vacant for over a year: the previous owners had moved out before listing the house, the house was on the market for almost a year, and we didn't move in until 4 months after the closing. The house backs up to the Drew University facilities building, which contains an old smokestack structure. Potential buyers were asking about the smokestack, so the previous owners contacted Drew for a letter of explanation regarding the smokestack, which Greg Smith provided on May 22 2017.

Up until that point, there was a small covered structure used for sheltered storage, a little wider and taller than a pickup truck. This structure was a simple tarp wrapped around a pole-frame-structure: no foundation, no weight-bearing walls, etc.

The structure:

The structure, from the side:

Historic satelite imagery from Google Earth shows that this is the structure that stood there for the last 20+ years.

But wait. The house is vacant? Nobody is watching? New owners are coming, who will have no idea what just hit them? Great timing to expand operations along the residential border! The above structure was therefore removed, and replaced by this:

This thing is huge! A poured concrete foundation, lots of extra width/depth/height, and thick concrete walls to assure this thing can be loaded up like never before.

Did this new structure bring with it responsible neighborly activity? You bet!

Drew University falls under the University Zone for the town of Madison, which states:

"A minimum setback of 50 feet shall be maintained from any exterior property line. Said 50 feet shall serve as a buffer between the resident college and university and surrounding residences."

Neither the zoning restriction nor common courtesy discouraged Greg Smith or Drew University from wreaking havoc on the surrounding neighborhood. In went the new structure, and with it came a fleet of new vehicles to ensure that the structure was used to its full potential.

The Backyard Menace Begins

The house was still vacant, so Drew got several months of activity using the new setup without anybody looking directly over their shoulder. Sure, the neighbors noticed the new activity, but they didn't have a line-of-sight view to see what was going on: they only knew they were all of a sudden being woken up in the middle of the night. More on this later.

How did the new expanded fleet of vehicles fare while operating within the 50-foot buffer area? Not well. Aside from the 50-foot buffer restriction, the area is poorly suited for such a large-scale operation: there's simply not much room to operate. With the fleet of vehicles brought in to support the new structure, the area was operating beyond capacity, with precision maneuvering required to accommodate the vehicles while keeping the area functional for day-to-day-use. After I purchased the house but before I moved in, I discovered the fence separating my property from Drew had been fractured at several places along its length:

As mentioned, with the new fleet of vehicles the area is at capacity in nice weather. Add in a foot of fresh snow, and the area becomes non-functional. To clear space for these vehicles to operate, the snow was mounded and pushed into the fence to the point of fracturing it at several locations. With the exception of the repaired boards, the fence is of consistent age along its entirity. The fence went up in 1995. With the new storage structure and the associated fleet of vehicles operating within the 50-foot buffer, the fence didn't stand a chance: it fell victim to the freshly rooted Drew Menace during its first season of use.

Drew University: Waking Up The Neighborhood

As mentioned, the neighbors knew something had changed, but they didn't know what was happening: they simply knew that all of a sudden there was a lot more noise which would occasionally wake them up at night. However, because of fences and elevation differences, they had no line-of-sight-view to the new activity occuring along the residential border.

What does the Drew backyard menace look like in action? Here's a scene from 11:50 pm one night:

[Make sure your volume is turned up to get a full appreciation of the nightly activity]

This scene occurs, continuously throughout the night, whenever it snows.

Is it loud? OH YEAH!

Loud enough to wake somebody up? OH YEAH!

Does Greg Smith or Drew University mind waking up the neighborhood? NOT AT ALL!

See the vehicle leaving to the left of the screen (at 0:18), then re-appearing moving towards the right (at 0:58)? That vehicle just drove behind several neighboring houses, directly through the 50-ft buffer area, indiscriminately waking up children and adults along the way. This activity has woken myself, my 6-year-old son, the neighbors third-grade son, and others unfortunate enough to live next to the freshly-rooted Drew University Menace.

Amazingly, the scene from the above video is not confined to nights of snow events. There's been 5 am activity the day before a snowstorm to salt roads/sidewalks in preparation for the upcoming event. After a snowfall, there's regular follow-up activity at the structure to do continued cleanup: until midnight, starting at 5 am, whatever it takes and without any regard for neighbors being awaken by the menace.

One incredible example of the persistence of the Drew Menace was the snowstorm that dropped 8" of snow on the evening/morning of March 3-4: over the next TEN DAYS, there was ZERO PRECIPITATION of any kind, yet Drew was out there at 5 am, waking the neighborhood with heavy-duty hydraulic machinery and 110-decibel vehicular backup sirens EVERY MORNING! Thank you Greg Smith and Drew University for being responsible neighbors.

The Drew Menace, Continued

The 10-day stretch of 5 am activity in the absence of any preceiptation literally blew my mind. Did this really have to happen at 5 am? Couldn't somebody have planned this better? Just responsible neighborly behavior I suppose.

Thankfully, the 5 am activity ended on March 13, though the persistent wake-ups have given me the longer-term issue of insomnia, an issue I'm still working to overcome.

What did the change of season bring? Just more responsible neighborly activity in the form of a full-time mulch mound:

The heavy hydraulic machinery and vehicular backup sirens continue! That was the scene consistently throughout spring. It provided a great audio soundtrack for our backyard egg hunt on Easter day.

On the morning of April 23, while getting my kids ready to go to school, I wrote down the number of "impulsive sounds" generated by these vehicular backup sirens to notify Greg Smith, in a quantifiable manner, of the sheer amount of noise being generated from the activity at the new structure. Betwen trucks maneuvering around the grounds area and the bucket loader accessing the mulch mound, I counted almost 500 impulses in a 30-minute period. That's a lot of noise!

Greg Smith didn't mind. Thank you Greg Smith and Drew University for respecting the 50-foot buffer requirement and for the responsible neighborly activity.

I referred to the vehicular backup sirens as "impulsive sounds" because by definition and design, that's exactly what's being produced: 110-decibel impulsive sounds. More on this below.

The Drew Menace: Throughout-The-Year Activity

What's happening outside of winter salting season and spring mulching season? Every time a vehicle maneuvers within the 50-foot buffer area, it generates anywhere from 20 to 50+ impulsive sounds. This adds up to HUNDREDS of 110-decibel impulsive sounds being generated and received at the property boundary EVERY DAY!

Here are a few clips that capture the day-to-day maneuvering of vehicles within the 50-foot buffer area, and their associated impulsive sounds.

Thank you Greg Smith and Drew University for notifying everybody within a mile+ radius that there are trucks being moved in reverse somewhere on the Drew campus.

The Madison noise ordinance states the following regarding impulsive sounds:

"Impulsive sound. Between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., impulsive sound shall not equal or exceed 80 decibels. Between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., impulsive sound which occurs less than four times in any hour shall not equal or exceed 80 decibels. Impulsive sound which repeats four or more times in any hour shall be measured as impulsive sound and shall meet the requirements as shown in Table I."

The referenced Table I states that these impulsive sounds must not exceed 65 decibels as received along a residential property boundary. Do any of the impulsive sounds from the above videos meet this requirement? NOT A CHANCE! They are 110 decibel sounds generated feet from the border, and they are being received at the property line with zero dampening. Thank you Greg Smith and Drew University for being responsible neighbors and adhering to the Madison Noise Ordinance.

Is Drew Compliance Even Possible?

In some of the videos above, you'll notice lawnmowers maneuvering around the impulsive sound-generating vehicles. Drew stores all of their lawnmowers and leafblowers within this 50-foot buffer area.

Here's what the Madison noise ordinance says about permissible hours for the use of yard maintenance equipment:

"Commercial or industrial power tools and landscaping and yard maintenance equipment, excluding emergency work, shall not be operated on a residential property or within 250 feet of a residential property line when operated on commercial or industrial property between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. on weekdays, or between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. on weekends or federal holidays, unless such activities can meet the limits set forth in Tables I and II."

When Greg Smith was asked about an early-morning violation of the above requirement which came in the form of a leaf blowing operation on the morning of Saturday March 23, he offered the following reply:

"To give you some background the University had an open house on Saturday that began at 7:00am. The equipment utilized to blow down the campus for events such as open houses is stored in the Embury Hall Ground's shop and adjacent garages... I can tell you on behalf of the University we take the Madison Noise Ordinance very seriously and have gone to great lengths to ensure our service contractors don't violate it... Just so you are aware the University is having an open house for incoming and potential students this coming Saturday, as well as next Saturday, both beginning at 7:00am."

[The grounds shop and adjacent garages? All located within the 50-foot buffer area]

Really? There's a need to regularly use the lawn equipment before 7:00 am on Saturdays, all of this equipment is stored immediately along the residential border, and Drew has gone to great lengths to ensure compliance with the Madison noise ordinance?

Hysterical.

Vehicular Backup Siren Alternatives

Here's an excerpt from a study on vehicular motion alarms:

"For all their ubiquity, backup beepers are poorly designed for their job... Their single tones, with a typical volume of 97 - 112 decibels at the source, are loud enough to damage hearing and can be heard blocks from the danger zone... Their sound is so commonplace that their warning can lose its authority through the cry-wolf phenomenon. For reasons having to do with the physics of sound, they also are notoriously hard to localize, further undermining their utility."

In April, I observed a scenario around the Drew structure where a truck was backing up, a worker walking behind the truck ignored/couldn't localize the siren, and other workers had to push the worker out of the path of the truck to keep him from getting hit. This situation perfectly captured the issues stated above. I wish I had a video of the incident to post.

Backup sirens satisfy OSHA requirement 1926.601(b)(4), which states:

(4) No employer shall use any motor vehicle equipment having an obstructed view to the rear unless:
(i) The vehicle has a reverse signal alarm audible above the surrounding noise level or:
(ii) The vehicle is backed up only when an observer signals that it is safe to do so.

Clearly a stock backup siren satisfies these requirements.

Are there alternatives? Absolutely.

OSHA has stated that white noise-based alert systems, which monitor ambient noise levels and generate a directional white noise-based alert at 10 decibels above ambient, satisfy the above requirement. Such devices can be purchased for around $200.

Does anybody actually use such devices? Walking home this morning, I saw a TruGreen truck in reverse that appeared to be using this technology: it was amazing! The University of Victoria and Whistler resort adopted this technology to achieve increased safety and reduced noise for workers/pedestrians. Within the United States, Fort Lauderdale specifically lists these devices as exempt from the impulsive sound portion of their noise ordinance:

Sec. 17-8. - Exemptions.
4. Back-up alarms so long as they are self-adjusting to ambient sound levels and meet the requirements of OSHA standards.

Note, backup sirens are not listed as exempt from the Madison noise ordinance.

OSHA has also stated that a backup camera, which provides the driver with an unimpeded view to the rear of the vehicle, satisfies the requirement. The link also states that a radar/doppler motion sensing system would meet the OSHA requirement.

SO: there are a few options for Drew to address these persistent impulsive sound violations. Any of these alternatives would go a long way towards improving the ambiance within and in the areas surrounding Drew University.

These methods were all suggested to Greg Smith, but it was decided that it's "the safest course of action for all of our residents, students, faculty, staff and guests to leave our contractor's existing vehicle back-up alarms intact." I'm sure apathy played a role in this decision as well.

I really wish I had that video of the Drew contractor ignoring the backup siren, being pushed out of the way of the reversing truck by other contractors to keep him from getting hit. Something tells me that a backup camera, a directional white noise alert system, or a combination of the two would have been the safer option.

Is the issue contractor compliance? Simply write into all future contracts that omnidirectional 110-decibel alert systems are banned, and that all contractor vehicles used to regularly service Drew University must employ an alternative technology, such as a white-noise-based system or vehicular backup camera, to satisfy the OSHA requirement. Problem solved!

Introduction