KENT, Ohio — For more than a year, neighbors in a Kent community have been dealing with frequent noise they’ve traced to a nearby butter factory. Now they’re weighing whether to take legal action.
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“It sounds like someone’s running a large motor next to my bedroom window,” explained Del Tekieli. “It’s affecting everyone’s sleep. One neighbor told me she’s close to having a nervous breakdown. She can’t take it anymore.”
In April, News 5 reported many of the residents in the Crossings at Golden Pond development and some who live on adjacent Sunnybrook Road filed numerous noise complaints with the city over a loud, low-pitch sound that appeared to come from the nearby Land O’Lakes facility.
“We can hear it in the sunroom. We can hear it in the bedroom. Friends come over and go, ‘What is that?’ And I say, ‘That’s Land O’Lakes,’” said Jane Gwinn.
In the spring, the Fortune 500 company known for its butter pledged to evaluate the issue and bring out an independent consultant to the neighborhood. Over the summer, neighbors tell News 5 the sensors the consultant used were placed in areas where the sound is usually obstructed, and they don’t think the study fully captured the scope of the problem.
News 5 reached out to Land O’Lakes but had not heard back from the company by the time this article was published.
In a statement to our partners at the Akron Beacon Journal, a spokesperson said the study "conclusively determined that the noise complaints from area residents were not consistent with sound from our facility. As the city of Kent continues to investigate, we will continue to engage with the city if anything additional arises."
“Unless we’re all doing a mass hallucination here, including you and your crew, there’s noise there and there’s no secret where it’s coming from,” Jerry Ennis told News 5 Monday.
The neighbors said during a 2-week period in June, the facility temporarily closed down and the noise ceased. The sound restarted when it reopened.
“I don’t understand why a 16 billion dollar corporation continues to insist on being a noise polluter and a bad neighbor when, for probably a few thousand bucks, they could probably fix this issue,” Ennis said.
With Land O’Lakes declining to take further action, the city of Kent is pursuing next steps. The city’s law director said an outside prosecutor will be gathering information from neighbors and weighing whether the company violated the local noise ordinance.
Ward 3 Councilman Robin Turner said he hopes the parties are able to come to a solution without legal action.
“They’ve indicated that if, in fact, there’s additional evidence that we can present to them, that they’ll come back to the table,” Turner said of Land O’Lakes.
In the year since the noise began, nearly 60 people in the neighborhood signed a petition calling on the company to mitigate the issue. They’ve also compiled a 60-page written packet of information outlining their concerns and data they’ve collected. The packet was sent to the CEO of Land O’Lakes and the neighbors are waiting to hear back.
City leaders and many in the neighborhood said they appreciate the economic impact the company has had on the community. They’re hoping to reach an amicable solution but say they’re desperate for relief.
“Nobody’s got any bad feelings or retribution or anything. We just want it fixed. We just want some mitigation to help quiet the noise so we can live here in peace,” said Gwinn.
The Kent law director said she was meeting with the outside attorney this week to figure out the next steps.
