Couple: Put a lid on the noise

The city manager said both residents and business owners are important.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST PALESTINE -- Robin Witman isn't against progress. He'd just like it to happen more quietly.
Robin and his wife, Peggy, live on West Main Street, across from Leland Manufacturing, a company that makes lids for 55-gallon steel drums. Witman said the constant noise and vibrations from two stamping machines since the company opened two years ago have disrupted their lives and caused them physical and emotional stress.
"We aren't denying their right to do business," he said. "We aren't even asking them to move. Business is important to the city, and we hope they do well. We just want somebody to do something about the noise, so we can have a normal life."
Part of the operation is two stamping machines that stamp the lids out of sheets of steel. The machines operate at different times on different days, but can be running anytime Monday through Friday between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m., Witman said. Sometimes the machines run on Saturdays, too, and sometimes as early as 5:30 a.m., he said.
Loud and louder
The company is in a small metal building with a metal roof, and operates much of the time with an overhead garage-style door open on the front side of the building, which faces the Witman's home. Witman said, however, that even with the doors closed, the operation is still extremely loud.
Consequently, he and his wife don't entertain guests in their home and can't enjoy backyard activities such as summer barbecues, he said.
"We keep the windows closed, and had to buy air conditioners. Even wearing ear plugs, it's difficult to sleep," Witman said. "I work nights, and I get about three or four hours of sleep. Once I wake up, I'm awake. There's no going back to sleep. Sometimes I wake up early, knowing those machines are going to start up soon. We both suffer from sleep disorders."
Witman said that not only are the stamping machines noisy, but that each time each machine stamps out a lid, it creates a strong vibration. The vibration travels across the street and rattles the Whitmans' house.
Anyone sitting in the living room can feel the rumbling and see the light fixtures sway and pictures and other wall ornaments clatter.
Bad vibrations
Witman said the vibration rattles his gas furnace, and he's worried the continued vibration will damage the foundation of his century home, or the natural gas lines or waterlines.
Witman said he has contacted city officials numerous times and even contacted state and federal lawmakers and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, with no success. An attorney filed a nuisance lawsuit on his behalf but filed it in the wrong court, so the case was thrown out.
Leland Manufacturing owner Brad Strawser said the Witmans have talked to everyone but him, and he would welcome a meeting.
"Anytime he wants to sit down and talk, we'd be more than happy to do that," Strawser said. "We're zoned heavy industrial. "We're making improvements as we can, but we're a young company, and everything costs money."
The Witmans' home is at least 100 years old, and they have lived in it 24 years. They argue that except for a nearby railroad, they had peace and quiet for 22 of those years, until the city worked a deal to bring Leland Manufacturing into the city on a portion of the land that was once the city's electric plant.
Witman said city officials are apparently more concerned about business and industry than they are about their citizens. He said, for example, that he obtained copies of zoning maps but found them to be very technical and difficult to understand. He also found it just as difficult to get any city officials to help him understand the maps.
"I graduated from East Palestine High School. We've lived here; we've raised our boys here," he said. "We're not the only neighbors here, but mostly everyone works during the day, so they don't know what it's like.
"My wife is a calm, quiet person, and this has really changed her," he said. She's a teacher, and this year, there are no summer teaching opportunities. She can't bear the thought of spending each day all summer long in this house.
"We're looking for an RV so maybe she can stay at a campground," he said.
Can they sell?
"We'd sell our house and move, but who would buy it? We'd be lucky to get out of it what we owe. We love this community, and this is what we're forced to put up with."
City Manager Gary Clark said the entire area is zoned heavy industrial, including Witman's property. He said the area was zoned heavy industrial in the 1950s for the city's industrial park.
Clark wouldn't comment on the couple's failed lawsuit or other past events. He said Leland Manufacturing isn't the only company in the area.
"Both parties are important to us, and we want to do all we can to accommodate them," Clark said. "If they want to get together and talk about this, we're willing to be involved in that discussion."
Strawser said Leland Manufacturing began two years ago with two employees, and their intent was to create jobs in the city. Now there are 10 workers on site and seven others who work elsewhere, fitting the lids with rubber seals.
"Leland Manufacturing is the kind of business we want in East Palestine," Clark said. "The days of manufacturing plants employing hundreds of workers are gone. We have to think small, and do the small things right. The future is in plants that start with 10 or 15 people and grow to 30 or 50 jobs. We want to bring in smaller operations that can be successful -- lots of them."
tullis@vindy.com