Kent neighbors say constant noises from butter factory are driving them crazy

KENT, Ohio (WOIO) - Neighbors living in two normally quiet Kent developments claim they’re being driven mad by a constant noise coming from the nearby Land O’Lakes factory.

“Like this and louder and a little more, this is fairly level, a little more vroom, vroom, vroom,” one neighbor said. Some people are calling it sound torture.

Neighbors told 19 News one family even sold their house to escape the constant humming and buzzing.

“It has affected people that have moved into a new house,” said neighbor Jane Gwinn. “I can hear the noise. I can hear the humming it’s like a washing machine just constantly vroom, vroom, vroom.”

When Gwinn moved into her home at the Crossing at Golden Pond development in Kent the noise from nearby Land O’Lakes didn’t bother her much, but last summer, something changed.

“It’s annoying and now that I’m even more aware of it and it’s more constant it’s pervasive,” Gwinn said.

The noise doesn’t really bother Gwinn’s husband but there’s a reason for that.

“There are some advantages to having hearing loss, which I do and I can only hear it sporadically,” he said.

One woman said she can’t even sleep without wearing ear plugs. Another said it makes it difficult to have guests.

“It’s aggravating,” one man said. “It is disturbing some peoples sleep. It’s constant, 24/7.”

People living in Golden Pond and on nearby Sunnybrook Road have been desperate for relief for months.

“We’ve been trying to get the city to do something about it, but we haven’t had a lot of luck,” one neighbor said. “The city of Kent does have a noise ordinance but they don’t seem to be enthusiastic about applying that ordinance to Land O’Lakes.”

19 News spoke with Kent City Councilman Robin Turner over the phone and he said Land O’Lakes recently hired a noise consultant to try to figure out where exactly the noise is coming from, but some neighbors aren’t buying it.

“If they haven’t figured it out by now, I don’t know if they ever will,” one neighbor said. “It ought to be obvious if you worked over there, you’d know what that noise is.”

19 News did reach out to Land O’Lakes for a comment, but so far, we have not heard back.

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