(DUBLIN, Calif.) — Parks Reserve Forces Training Area confirmed a reduced daily bugle schedule in an Aug. 10 news release, the latest in a series of adjustments to a loudspeaker system that has drawn complaints from Dublin residents since December.
The schedule now consists of three calls, at 6:30 a.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. The city of Dublin updated its public information page about the system Aug. 12 and posted a memo from the city manager's office describing the city's role and next steps.
City staff contacted Camp Parks leadership after residents raised concerns about the frequency and volume of the calls, according to the city. The Army subsequently reduced the schedule.
The Army describes the system, known as Giant Voice, as a general announcement network and a critical life-safety system used to broadcast emergency and routine communications from garrison headquarters to personnel across the installation, including soldiers training in the hills at the north end of the property. The city has published that description, attributing it to Camp Parks.
Photo Credit - City of Dublin
Residents living near the speakers have challenged that explanation in complaints submitted to the city. Some have questioned how a 6:30 a.m. wake-up call and an evening lights-out call serve the stated purpose of reaching troops training in the northern hills. Residents also have reported seeing little or no activity on the portion of the installation between their homes and the nearest speaker.
Dublin cannot compel the Army to change the schedule or volume. Camp Parks is a federal installation, and local noise rules generally cannot be enforced against federal military operations.
That limitation contrasts with the city's authority over private property within its jurisdiction. Dublin can establish local noise standards, including quiet hours and restrictions involving leaf blowers and amplified sound. It can ask the Army to modify its practices, publish information the Army provides and maintain records of residents' complaints, but it cannot enforce those local standards against Camp Parks.
As a result, changes to the bugle schedule have depended on communication between city officials and Army leadership rather than municipal enforcement.
The bugle calls were silent for roughly two years before returning in December, when residents reported hearing them as many as eight times a day, seven days a week. The schedule was reduced to three calls in January. The calls later stopped temporarily before resuming.
In a February service request to the city, one resident reported that the system had been silent for 12 days before returning and said a phone-based sound reading indicated a call was roughly twice as loud as before. In a separate request, a Bullion Lane resident described a speaker near the wall separating the installation from a housing development and reported irregular playback speed after a pause.
Residents have reported readings of about 92 dBA using phone-based sound meters. Those readings were not taken with calibrated regulatory equipment and should not be treated as directly comparable with official noise limits measured under prescribed conditions. The complaints nevertheless document repeated concerns from residents about the system's volume, timing and proximity to nearby homes.
The August schedule also moves the final call earlier than the schedule reported after the January reduction. At that time, the three calls were listed as Reveille at 6:30 a.m., Retreat at 5 p.m. and Taps at 9 p.m. The schedule confirmed Aug. 10 lists the third call at 8 p.m.
Residential development near Camp Parks came decades after the military installation. Federal land near the installation was transferred for private development in 2009, and housing was subsequently built within earshot of the base's speaker system. About 2,000 homes are close enough to hear the calls.
Questions about the Giant Voice system can be directed to the Camp Parks Public Affairs Office.
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