The petition requested the city initiate an environmental noise pollution study to determine whether current , and potentially future, railroad noise levels would be in excess of federal and/or state regulations

The study, which is expected to last four months, will involve placing sound and vibration monitoring devices in multiple locations along the tracks and in the front and back yards of several homes adjacent to the rail line. Bollard Acoustical Consultants, Inc. (BAC) has been selected to perform the study. BAC is an experienced acoustics and vibrations testing firm that has completed similar rail noise studies in the past.

BAC will compare the noise level to federal and state standards, identify potential noise and vibration mitigation alternatives, and fully evaluate each alternative’s noise reduction performance as well as technical, physical, and financial feasibility.

When the noise study is completed, anticipated to be sometime this fall, City Manager Jeff Boynton said they will decide what to do next, “Depending on the recommendations, if there is some mitigation measure that is identified as low cost with a high benefit to the community then we will definitely budget for it in the future. We will do a cost analysis,” he said.

If the recommendation comes back advising to construct a sound wall to lessen the noise, that could be very expensive and maybe unfeasible, but Boynton remained optimistic, “You never know where funding may come from. When we started talking about this study we didn’t know funding would be available."

Boynton said that receiving funds from the California High Speed Rail Authority is another possible funding option in the future.