Photo courtesy of City of Portland.
Portland International Raceway (PIR) revving of engines is a familiar summer sound to many North Portland residents and a City Noise Review Board PIR subcommittee is taking a fresh look at that.
The panel is proposing that the Portland Parks & Recreation Bureau’s Noise Review Board launch a comprehensive study on the longstanding issue of PIR noise. The PIR subcommittee was scheduled to evaluate public comments at its July 30 meeting before finalizing recommendations. “I will support anything that will reduce loud noises from PIR,” said subcommittee member Marty Knowles, a Kenton resident. The proposed study would:
- Examine a range of track events to determine if currently acceptable 103/105 decibel limits at trackside exceed the 65-decibel limits in nearby residential neighborhoods.
- Study relocating or adding three noise meters between Kenton and the western racetrack boundaries, near the Portsmouth neighborhood.
- Research the effectiveness, location and costs of creating noise barriers around the racetrack.
- Request increased funding for the Noise Control Program.
- If the city does not fund a new study or purchase new noise meters, the panel should seek new funds from the North Portland Trust Fund that’s designed to help neighborhoods affected by the raceway: Kenton, Arbor Lodge, Bridgeton, Cathedral Park, East Columbia, Hayden Island, Overlook, Piedmont, Portsmouth, St. Johns and University Park.
“I definitely support most of what was in the [PIR subcommittee’s] first draft,” said subcommittee member Ryan Pittel of Kenton. Panel chair Mary Sipe advised at an earlier meeting that the issue was not just the loudness of racetrack noise, but the tone, duration and frequency.
The scope of the new study and findings will likely be controversial. Jason Henshaw, who represents PIR advocates, said his analysis showed that only 0.04% of the impacted population had complained about PIR and a disproportionate percentage of complaints came from a few households in Arbor Lodge, Kenton and Portsmouth.
Knowles, who has lived in North Kenton for 13 years, previously told the North Peninsula Review that “in all my time here, whenever I’ve complained about the noise, PIR has always responded, ‘Hey, we’re in compliance.’ The problem is that they might be in compliance with their required 103/105-decibel measurements at trackside, but that often means that they exceed the maximum 65-decibel limit in neighborhoods.”
Sipe said that once all feedback is received, she hopes the panel can approve and forward the report to the City Noise Review Board. The public is encouraged to submit written testimony to the Noise Control Office at noise@portlandoregon.gov.