Bates Troy Is Noisy

a community campaign for environmental justice

Bates Troy's Code Violations

Fact: The noise pollution Bates Troy produces is illegal. Bates Troy is in violation of the City of Binghamton code on at least two counts:

1) Bates Troy produces annoying noise that "annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of a reasonable person of normal sensibilities". This alone is sufficient grounds for Bates Troy to be silenced as such noise is explicitly prohibited by the City of Binghamton Noise Control Ordinance.

2) There is a detectable odor emanating from Bates Troy. This odor is in violation of Chapter 410-24 K which states: "No land use or establishment shall be permitted to emit odorous gases or other odorous matter in such quantities as to be readily detectable without instruments at the property line of the lot from which they are emitted..." Residents have smelled dry cleaning odor wafting across their property within a two-block radius.

Bates Troy's Disruptive Behavior

Bates Troy violates the law. They also do things that while not a violation of the law, have a profoundly negative effect on our community, and therefore should be illegal. For example, Bates Troy idles their trucks for thirty minutes or more from 4:45AM until 5:15AM according to residents. They also make deliveries to their dry-cleaning plant as late as 9:30PM. These activities disrupt our ability to enjoy our homes before and after work.

The Law

"It is the public policy of the City that every person is entitled to ambient noise levels that are not detrimental to life, health, and enjoyment of his or her property." - City of Binghamton Noise Control Ordinance

"Prohibited Acts: any excessive or unusually loud sound which either annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of a reasonable person of normal sensibilities." -City of Binghamton Noise Control Ordinance Chapter 292 Section 5B (11)

Background

Bates Troy Dry Cleaners (also known as Bates Troy Healthcare Linens), located at 151 Laurel Ave, is producing "low frequency noise" pollution that has destroyed the quiet, idyllic community of Fritz Wallenberg Park in Binghamton, NY. Bates Troy Healthcare Linen's tunnel washer starts at 6:00AM every weekday and continues until evening. The constant noise causes headaches, irratation and lack of concentration in healthy, normal and reasonable adults. It also has unknown negative effects on wild animals, small children and the elderly.

When Bates Troy wanted to knock down houses, extend their operations onto Mendelssohn St and build the extension that now houses the noise-making tunnel washer, they were required by City of Binghamton code Chapter 410 (aka Zoning Ordinance) to seek a special permit called a "Series A Site Plan Review". Series A is the highest level review possible under the law and is reserved exclusively for those "land uses and activities which is likely to have a broad and significant impact on the physical, environmental, social or economic character of the surrounding neighborhood and the City." In plain English, this means that Bates Troy is fully aware that their expansion was likely to significantly impact the quality of our lives. Well, the fact is that it has. What was once a quiet area has become intolerable. Our homes are becoming inhospitable while they continue to run their machine.

What You Can Do

There is only one solution to the Bates Troy noise problem: the City of Binghamton must enforce their preexisting laws. We are currently circulating a petition and we encourage you to sign it. At the moment, our only hope of restoring the quiet is this petition.

90 second background summary on the Bates Troy issue (click here if video doesn't appear):

Bates Troy attempts bribery to stop this campaign (click here if video doesn't appear):

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