A noise issue has arisen in the Blue Valley School District in spite of good intentions on all sides. Discussions are set among the participants to reach a solution. Neighbors in Blue Valley Riding have worked successfully with the Blue Valley High School on noise issues and hope to do so on this one.

In this case, Blue Valley Riding neighbors had complained for the last couple of years about the increasingly loud noise levels from the current stadium PA system. The Blue Valley Riding Homes Association appointed a committee to work with the high school. Last year the school pointed out that the main problem was that the current PA system was unclear, so its volume was being raised for the attendees at games. A new system would be clearer and be able to focus better on the stadium. So people in the stadium would be able to hear better and it would be less noisy in the neighborhood.

This sounded like a win/win situation and the BVR noise committee was fully supportive. At one point, neighbors called the school's acoustical consultants to take noise measurements at a home when the sound was particularly bad. The noise reading was 67 d(BA), confirming how high the level was.

Meanwhile, the School District had approached the Board of County Commissioners about more extensive modifications at Blue Valley High School. These had been approved, but the Board of County Commissioners in a bid to protect the neighborhoods, also stipulated that if a new sound system were requested it could be no louder than the current one. However, the Board and the County Planning Department had not been made aware of how bad the current system was, that the current levels were unacceptable and needed to be lowered.

Faced with the instructions of the County Commissioners and the 67 dB(A) reading, the school requested a new standard be set at 67 dB(A), the reading from the current system that neighbors had used to prove the level was unacceptable. Unfortunately, there had been a breakdown in communications between the neighborhoods and the school when this was decided upon. So the neighbors were shocked when they went to the Oxford Township Zoning Board intending to support the new system, only to find out for the first time that the school was requesting to put into the regulations the very sound level that was the problem.

Neither the neighbors nor the Town Zoning Board fully understood the implications and all of the background of the new proposal, and it was passed.

The next formal step will be for the County Commissioners to vote on the requested application with its new sound standard. Normally, a 3 out of 5 vote would pass this. In order to make this less likely, neighbors in the area have collected the notarized signatures of owners of 24.7% of the property within 1,000 feet of the high school on a protest petition. If found to be valid, 4 out of 5 Commissioners would have to vote in favor of the proposal to pass it. The petition could not be submitted on Thursday, January 31, when originally due because all County offices were closed due to the inclement weather, but will be submitted the next business day, Friday, as required.

Neighbors have discovered that all of the high schools in Overland Park in the Blue Vally School District are required to meet a standard of 60 dB(A), not 67 dB(A), and the measurement applies to anywhere beyond that boundary of the school property, not just at a few reference points inside the neighborhoods. Johnson County sets the same standard for property zoned RN-1, which Blue Valley High School and the surrounding County neighborhoods are zoned. It appears that in the past the school has not been subject to this because it was "grandfathered in". However, another County regulation states that when a property is granted a Conditional Use Permit, it becomes subject to this standard. So one could argue that a reasonable standard for Blue Valley High School is 60 dB(A) at its boundary.

Neighbors are less interested in a particular standard being set in concrete than in having a good sound system that works for people attending our childrens' sports events and is not obnoxious in the neighborhood. 67dB(A) is obnoxious.