‘Quiet Zone’ Sought for Trolley Area Near Loren Drive, Like San Diego’s

Loren Drive residents led by Rhonda Ciardetti are using a San Diego precedent to combat trolley noise on the tracks below their homes near Grossmont High School.

After receiving what Ciardetti considered an unsatisfactory response from the trolley operator, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, residents are planning an appeal to the La Mesa City Council for a “quiet zone.”

Ciardetti appeared at a City Council meeting Oct. 25, making comments during a part of the agenda where council members couldn’t take action.  But she’s seeking a spot on an upcoming agenda.

In a letter dated Oct. 27, the MTS chief of staff, Sharon Cooney, responded to neighborhood trolley noise concerns (see attached letters) but didn’t indicate any change in operations.

Cooney concluded: “MTS strives to provide the most effective service at the lowest cost to taxpayers possible. We attempt to do so with minimal impacts to the communities that we serve. While we understand that you feel that you have been impacted negatively by our services since you purchased your home on Loren Drive this year, we hope that you will come to see the value of public transportation in your community.”

In a handwritten note on the posted letter, Ciardetti said: “Residents do not feel all items were answered and will be following up with questions to MTS.”

In a new focus for the Loren Drive residents, a “quiet zone” is being sought for the trolley area surrounding the Orange and Green Line tracks west of Water Street.

Ciardetti, writing Monday as Noise Trolley, “has inquired and requested to be put on the agenda of the MTS Board and on the agenda of City of La Mesa Board for the purpose of requesting a Quiet Zone. ... Downtown San Diego recently … approved Quiet Zones.”

The San Diego Quiet Zone project involves 13 public right-of-way railroad crossings downtown, according to a June 30 news release.

“As one of the nation’s longest and most complex Quiet Zones to be planned within a shared rail corridor, many organizations are involved in the design, construction, functionality and long-term maintenance,” MTS said.

Parties to the San Diego project include Burlington Northern Santa Fe, MTS, the San Diego Association of Governments, AMTRAK, San Diego Imperial Valley Railway, North County Transit District, the California Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Railroad Administration.

Testing of quieter features began July 10, MTS says.

“Plans call for all safety enhancements, including gates, medians, traffic signals and warning lights to be operational by spring 2012,” MTS said.

A quiet zone designation, MTS said, “will exempt that section of the rail corridor from federal regulations requiring that train horns be sounded for 15-20 seconds before entering all public grade crossings, though not more than one-quarter mile in advance, except in an emergency.”

On Oct. 3, La Mesa senior planner Chris Jacobs sent Ciardetti a copy of the La Mesa Noise Element Background Report dated June 1989.

Jacobs noted: “Please be aware that the Community Development Department is working on an update to the La Mesa General Plan, including a new Noise Element. Public review of the first draft of the General Plan is anticipated by
early next year.”

The 1989 report, prepared by ERC Environmental and Energy Services Co., noted in its introduction:

The purpose of the Noise Element is to identify and appraise existing noise problems in the community and to provide guidance to planners and developers for avoiding problems in the future. ... Noise policies can be established for new land uses, and potential solutions to existing problems can be recommended, based on the results of the community noise survey.