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Approved 1/11/2016 OC Board of Adjustment – 11/9/15 Page 26 of 48 sort of like an act of God. Thunderstorm or something, but that kind of thing can happen also. It’s rare, it’s not very long lasting, 1 moves one place to the other but that’s a focusing effect. We basically tell people you’ve got to be aware of the temperature 2 inversion effect and plan for it and so forth, the focusing effect is something that nobody can plan for. 3 4 Karen Barrows: Ok. Sir? 5 6 Rhett Macomson: I have not been sworn. 7 8 Karen Barrows: Ok, if you could state your name? 9 10 Rhett Macomson: My name is Rhett Macomson. I live at 7315 Goldmine Road which is just at the corner of Goldmine Road and 11 Morrow Mill, I’m probably about a mile to a mile and a half from the proposed location or the barn. My specific question…. 12 13 Karen Barrows: Can I swear you in please? Ok, Rhett. Can you affirm that the testimony that you’re about to give is the truth and 14 the whole truth? 15 16 Rhett Macomson: Yes, Ma’am. 17 18 Karen Barrows: Thank you. 19 20 Rhett Macomson: I built my house at Morrow Mill and Goldmine Road about 8 years ago. For what everyone in this room did, the 21 peace and quiet. It’s been discussed at length. Unbeknownst to me at the time I was moving into an area where graced by the 22 UNC research station and in the summertime as the moon goes down, those dogs down at the research station start barking. I can 23 hear them 2 ½ miles away. My particular question is, in relation to a dog barking at 2 ½ miles –and I don’t know what decibels and 24 this type of thing, that noise will carry. And I’ve had instances where neighbors have had parties out in their back at least a mile 25 from my house. And I’ve heard the loud music, so I’d like you to address the specifics of how a dog bark that far away I can hear 26 with my windows open, obviously. If I close them I don’t hear them, until the dogs next door start barking. So, that’s my question. 27 Just to give some sort of comparative sound. I think it was addressed earlier if you could give us some relation to that. 28 29 Noral Stewart: Yes, a dog bark, like music, like sirens is one of those distinctive sounds. It’s a sound that has distinctive 30 characteristics, concentrated right around a thousand hertz. Primarily, some dogs more down like 500 hertz, but it’s a very narrow 31 concentrated sound. And a dog bark is something that we’ve all learned to hear, it’s the kind of thing that’s sort of a danger sign. 32 With a lot of these signs that are particularly important, that are part of the fear or flight type of syndrome. They’re things, sirens, 33 gun shots, dog barks, things that can potentially be a danger so your body reacts to them. The concentration of the sound of a 34 narrow frequency range, like a siren, makes the sound very noticeable even in a very quiet environment. Even if it’s not the loudest 35 sound. You might have a situation where a sound like that, I have a meter here and I’m measuring the overall sound level and 36 when that dog barks, that needle doesn’t move because the overall sound level is more than that dog barking but that dog bark is 37 the loudest thing right in its frequency range and it stands out. And you hear it and you notice it. And in a particularly quiet 38 community, yes, you can hear some dog barks a long way off. My previous appearances here have been primarily about dog 39 barks and one of the things we’ve have to ensure is, it will not be heard at night, and so forth. So yes, and at night, with 40 temperature inversion effect typically starts around sunset, goes through the night until a little while after sunrise and its strongest 41 around sunrise, next strongest around sunset. Stronger in the winter than in the summer, but still there in the summer. But, that 42 means that the time you’ve got to really watch out for sound propagation is around sunset and just after sunset and around sunrise 43 in the morning. Those are the times that it’s going to be heard over longer distances. 44 45 Karen Barrows: Thank you. Is there someone else that had a question for Dr. Stewart? 46 47 Bob Flynn: I have not been sworn. My name is Bob Flynn; I live at 7108 Akin Trail in Chapel Hill. 48 49 Karen Barrows: Thanks Bob. Would you put your hand on the bible? Do you affirm the testimony that you’re about to give is the 50 truth and the whole truth? 51 52 Bob Flynn: I do. I’ve done lots of development and I’m confident that you can build that building to hold sound. 53 54 Noral Stewart: It can be done. 55