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BRANCHVILLE – The noise from a peanut-drying facility in Branchville is almost unbearable at times, according to resident Allen C. Ott.
It’s breaking the town’s noise ordinance, he said ahead of carrying the issue before town council Tuesday night.
A public hearing on complaints about the noise generated by the Southeastern Growers Association Inc. peanut-drying facility is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Branchville Community Center , 7647 Freedom Road, followed by the regular monthly Branchville Town Council meeting.
The issue is an ongoing problem between residents, the town council and the Southeastern Growers Association Inc., Ott said. Before now, his brother has been fighting the battle, but now he is taking up the issue.
“It’s not as bad at my house as it is at Mark’s, but we can’t sit on my porch because it’s so loud,” he said. “But it’s horrible at Mark’s house.”
Harry Wimberly, vice president of the SGA, a cooperative of 35 farmers, says the organization has tried to satisfy Ott and his brother in the past.
“I feel like we’ve bent over backwards to satisfy Mr. Ott,” he said. “We’ve tested the noise level in different places all over town, and it was not above a normal level. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) checked it out and found that there is no violation,” Wimberly said. OSHA is the federal agency created by Congress to issue and enforce rules about work-related illnesses, injuries and death.
There are two kinds of noise, unnecessary and necessary, Wimberly said. The peanut drying is necessary, he said, and it brings a lot of business to local merchants.
Ott says he wants the SGA to admit there’s a problem that affects not just him and his brother but other people who live near the blowers. He wants the SGA to turn the blowers to face another direction or build a high fence between the facility and the town.
“We are not asking them to close the facility down,” he said. “They have too much invested in it. But we want them to do something about the noise.”
SGA President Sub McAlhany says turning the blowers would create a hardship for the cooperative because the 13 blowers are connected to gas lines that would have to be dug up and moved. He says the SGA has already piled up a high dirt bank between the blowers and Mark Ott’s property.
McAlhany said he has visited the area where the Otts live and listened to the noise level. He says the level has been tested with a decimeter near Ott’s home and was all right by OSHA standards.
According to Ott, the noise bothers a lot more people than his brother and him and is sometimes worse than it is at others.
“They’ve been saying that Mark is the only one complaining,” he said. “But Mark did a petition two years ago and got 49 signatures without even trying. People that live up and down Ott Street and on 78 (U.S. 78) near Canaan Baptist Church and on Carpenter and Steedly Street signed it.”
Joe Walters says the noise is so loud the air almost vibrates at times.
“I signed a petition last year. I’m one of the few that has the guts to open their mouths in Branchville,” Walters said. “If they hire a lawyer, I’d contribute to the lawyer. Somebody should do something so we can have some peace.”
Eddie Hightower says he’s frustrated with the town council for not doing anything about the noise.
“It’s really loud,” he said. “I’m lucky enough to live in a house that has pretty good insulation, but the problem is that when you don’t need the air conditioning, you can’t cut it off and put up the windows and save electricity because of the noise.”
“The mayor refuses to implement the noise ordinance,” Hightower said. “I’ve suggested putting some picket signs and march up and down the road where you go in to the facility at.”
T&D Correspondent Dale Linder-Altman can be reached by e-mail at jerryanddale@lowcountry.com.