The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival has been generating about $65 million of direct and indirect revenue in the San Francisco economy annually. San Francisco’s share of annual direct revenue is about $3.5 million.

Financially, the event is a good deal for the city, but the noise for residents is annoying and has been getting worse every year.

Even though I live on Mount Davidson, 2 miles from the Golden Gate Park Polo Fields where the festival was held for three days last August, the noise inside my home office was frequently overwhelming. And I had all of my windows and doors shut.

The San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission will consider a 10-year contract extension of the Outside Lands use permit at its Thursday Operations Committee meeting and at the full commission meeting on Dec. 20. Outside lands should not get the 10-year contract extension until it demonstrates willingness and ability to reduce neighborhood noise levels significantly.

As written, the proposed permit does not specify what acoustical standards must be met and what testing protocols must be used to control noise levels at the festival and in the surrounding neighborhoods. It only requires Outside Lands to monitor noise levels and adjust them “as required.” When I requested acoustical standards and testing protocols from the city, I received:

•The instruction sheet that came with the noise measuring devices that the city is using to measure noise levels

•A very short paragraph from the proposed agreement that says that noise levels should be adjusted “as required” during the three-day music festival.

I am not alone in my concerns about the noise. This year, the festival generated 249 noise complaints by 190 different residents of about 12 square miles of western San Francisco. Some of the complaints came from residents who live as far as 3 miles from Golden Gate Park.

I have learned that none of the 190 people who submitted complaints knew that community meetings were held in the Sunset and Richmond districts to discuss the festival. The meeting notices were published in obscure newsletters and the word “noise” was omitted.

Outside Lands collected the noise complaints but never provided copies to city staff or to the San Francisco supervisors. Recreation and Park Department staff claim no one from the Sunset District complained about noise from the 2018 festival.

The city needs to adopt specific standards and protocols and require that Outside Lands hire an acoustical engineer to consult on the installation and the operation of the sound system at each festival. That’s only fair to festivalgoers and city residents.

Andrew Solow is an engineer and private investigator. He lives in San Francisco.