Hoag, locals discuss noise

NEWPORT BEACH — Thicker windows, sound barriers on balconies and a wall looming as high as 23 feet were among the possibilities discussed Thursday night for reducing sound problems caused by Hoag Hospital’s deliveries and machinery.

City officials, Hoag administrators and a number of residents spoke at a special meeting of the Newport Beach Planning Commission, which assembled to hear a report by an independent noise consultant hired by the city.

Fred Greve, a consultant for Mestre Greve Associates, outlined a number of ways the city and hospital could work together to try to curb noise for residents at a housing complex across the street.

The public hearing ended with no decision made, and the Planning Commission is scheduled to take up the Hoag issue again at a meeting March 6.

Before then, Greve and Senior Planner James Campbell plan to meet with hospital officials and residents to determine which sound measures would work best.

“The Planning Commission hasn’t made a decision yet, so until they decide, it’s open-ended,” Planning Director David Lepo said after the meeting.

Greve, who had spent the week before consulting with hospital and city representatives, offered a number of possible solutions to the noise problem.

Hoag is seeking approval of a project to shift building space from its lower campus to its upper campus and construct a 300,000-square-foot tower on Newport Boulevard, but residents have said the hospital needs to deal with noise- and air-pollution issues first.

Among the ideas Greve presented were an enclosed wall around the loading dock area to drown out noise from trucks, a sound wall around the ancillary building to cover exhaust fan noise and a number of renovations to the condominiums that face the hospital from across the street.

Most of his presentation centered on the idea of a lengthy sound wall that would run adjacent to the street and form a barrier between the hospital and residences.

The wall drew mixed reactions from the speakers at the meeting. Renee Pfersky, a resident of the complex, said she was concerned that a massive barrier would destroy the view that she and her neighbors had out their windows.

“I don’t think the people who want the wall really know what they’re talking about,” she said. “I’ve seen the freeway walls. I don’t want a wall.”

Erik Thurnher, the co-chair of a residents committee formed to address the sound issue, also cautioned the Planning Commission to think carefully about putting in a wall, since it would be hard to take down once installed. He noted, though, that his group wasn’t at all opposed to Hoag expanding its services.

“We support their growth, and if they feel the need to have another critical care facility, we absolutely support that,” he said.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].