NOBLE, Ga. — David Boyle grew up in a white house on a 50-acre farm, which he now owns, in the rural community of Noble, Georgia, which stretches for more than three miles along U.S. 27 between Rock Spring and LaFayette.
Boyle said the neighborhood is quiet.
“Most people make a garden, so they’re living sort of a country life, but they’re not really farmers,” he said in an interview.
That all changed when an Audia Plastics plant came to neighboring LaFayette, bringing with it additional noise and light pollution once the factory was built five or six years ago, said Boyle, who is chair of the Noble Neighborhood Association.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press tried to reach Audia via email, phone and left a voicemail. Assistant General Counsel for Audia Mary-Jo Rebelo said via email the company declined to comment on this story. But according to its website, Audia International, Inc., is one of the world’s largest plastics manufacturers focused on plastic compounding, color solutions and distribution.
Boyle described the noise as a distant, roaring sound that many have compared to a giant vacuum cleaner. The noise carries across the hills, and it can be heard a mile east of the plant, he said.
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Although the sound isn’t super annoying, he said, there are already trains in Noble and traffic, so the combination of noises disturbs the area’s natural setting.
Many residents walk the rural roads for exercise, Boyle said. They walk with a desire to hear the birds but are instead confronted by an industrial sound in the background.
Boyle said the noise does not disturb his sleep because he lives in an insulated house, but the noise is mostly noticeable when people are outside. He imagines the people who live on the road adjacent to the plant can’t sleep.
“We can accept some increased traffic,” he said. “We knew that would happen. We can accept the increased railroad noise that’s periodic through the day, but the 24-hour vacuuming noise disturbs our rural tranquility.”
The town may soon become home to a second industrial plant if Walker County commissioners approve rezoning land near Glass Road in LaFayette from agricultural to industrial during a vote, which was postponed from May 1 to June 5.
The community does not want the increased industrialization that could come with rezoning 90 acres north of the Audia plant, just off of U.S. 27, Boyle said.
RURAL CHARACTER
Via email, Boyle said when the Audia Plastics plant was proposed for the Walker County Industrial Park on the former Swanson Cattle Farm, which was more than 400 acres, leaders from the Planning Commission met with the Noble community. Residents were assured the plant would not change the neighborhood or the quality of life and that there wouldn’t be any pollution or disturbance in the suburban and rural residential areas.
Neighborhood locals have never seen or spoken to the owners of the Audia Plastics, which is headquartered in Washington, Pennsylvania, Boyle said.
“I don’t think they’re aware of the neighborhood that they exist in,” he said.
In an email, Boyle said he and other residents don’t see the plant’s management having any interest in the community.
Boyle said he’d like the plant’s owners to put up a sound screening on its east and north sides and plant rows of trees to improve the surrounding environment.
On the neighborhood’s west side, there is a hill and many trees protecting the area from the noise, but without a screening on the east side, he said the sound travels directly into Noble’s residential area.
“We’re not asking (them) to move or to shut down,” he said. “We’re asking to ameliorate because we’re used to this being cow pasture.”
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At night, the community’s residents like to see the stars in the rural sky, Boyle said, but light pollution from the Audia plant prevents that. Additionally, it disturbs bird migration, as many travel the path between Canada and Georgia.
Boyle said he’d like the plant’s owners to point the lights on the building’s corners downward to ensure they shine onto a surface instead of up into the air.
Since the 1960s, about half of the town’s residents commute 38 minutes via Highway 27 to drive about 22 miles from Noble to Chattanooga for work, Boyle said. It is small and known for the 2002 Tri-State Crematory scandal, in which more than 300 bodies were found in various stages of decomposition on property owned by crematory director Ray Brent Marsh and his family.
“We’re part of the Chattanooga metropolitan area, and we have the same concerns as people out in Ooltewah,” he said. “We’re not against development. We’re not against industry, but we want to preserve the viewscape, we want to preserve our semi-rural character. We’re just becoming part of a big urban, metropolitan development.”
In a recent email exchange seen by the Times Free Press, Boyle vocalized his community’s concerns regarding noise and light pollution from the Audia plant, among other things, to Walker County Commissioner Brian Hart.
Boyle invited Hart to the Noble Neighbors meeting on April 28, which included a discussion of the Audia plant, a desire for a traffic engineer to review the intersection of Center Point Road and Industrial Way with U.S. 27, and more.
Residents also discussed a lack of action taken after the Development Authority gave the impression the area’s industrial park would be landscaped along with a new road to enhance the neighborhood’s beauty, Boyle said in his email.
Additionally, Boyle said the Development Authority informed the community that there are 40 acres at the south of the Swanson farm tract, which became the over-400-acre industrial park, reserved for a community park. Residents haven’t heard anything from the board since.
“Noble is becoming residentially dense, and a park is needed, especially since traffic on the side roads has increased, making walking and biking unsafe,” Boyle said.
Hart was unable to attend the Noble Neighbors meeting, according to an email he sent to Boyle.
“I would love to attend as I am deeply involved with some of these issues now,” Hart said in an emailed reply to Boyle. “However, we have our quarterly Farm Bureau meeting that same evening at the sametime. If there is another time and date, I would like to meet with you all.”
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Hart said he met with the Development Authority Board on April 28 and wanted to discuss with Boyle.
He addressed the vote on rezoning the land adjacent to Glass Road from agricultural to industrial.
“I have talked to many folks about it since the Planning Commission Meeting and truly understand the concerns,” he said.
Boyle said of the exchange he thinks Hart is trying to be helpful, as Hart encouraged Boyle to call or email him to set up a time to discuss complaints.
Contact Leah Hunter at lhunter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673.
