Easton official says town can set foundry hours
By Vicki-Ann Downing, Enterprise staff writerEASTON — The town has the right to limit the hours of operation of the Belcher Corp. foundry after all, Selectman John Haederle told a neighborhood forum on Tuesday night.
"I'll be honest with you. The town of Easton really was asleep at the switch the last few years," Haederle told the estimated 30 neighbors attending the forum, who applauded and shouted, "Thank you for your honesty."
Haederle said he received an opinion earlier in the day from a lawyer for the town, Ellen Callahan Doucette, who said the town's zoning bylaw allows it to regulate any "change, extension or alteration" in Belcher's operation.
When the foundry switched to a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week operation a year ago, it should have sought a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals, Haederle said.
The foundry, which existed before the zoning bylaw was enacted, is "grandfathered," or, in technical terms, is a "legal non-conforming use." Any changes in its operation are therefore strictly regulated under the town's bylaw, Doucette said.
Belcher, a manufacturer of automotive parts, is now operating under a consent order from the state Department of Environmental Protection that limits its manufacturing hours to between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. weekdays.
If the company should one day seek to extend those hours, the town has the right to enforce its local zoning law to "ensure the public health and safety," Doucette said in her opinion.
Haederle also told the group that he is working on a noise control bylaw to present to voters at the spring annual town meeting. The law, if approved, would probably be enforced by the police department, he said.
News about the zoning bylaw was well-received by the foundry's neighbors, who also heard from state Rep. Geraldine Creedon, D-Brockton; state Sen. Brian A. Joyce, D-Milton, and David Johnston, deputy regional director for the DEP in Lakeville.
Belcher representatives did not attend the meeting, though they were at the previous session in April, attended by 100 neighbors.
Residents Tuesday expressed frustration that soot, odor and noise problems persist in their South Easton neighborhood despite the consent order, in effect since Sept. 22.
They also complained about the provision in the consent order that allows Belcher to operate until 2 a.m. if it experiences equipment malfunctions during the day. It cannot run for more than 16 hours in a day, but Johnston admitted that Belcher monitors its own hours and the state checks Belcher's records.
Johnston said residents might look out their windows at night and see lights in the Belcher plant on Foundry Street because certain plant operations are not regulated by the DEP.
"Nobody looks out their windows for the lights on," said Donna Baranowski of 6 Poquanticut Ave. "It invades our home from the noise of the castings, every four seconds, every eight seconds. There is no recourse, there is nothing we can do, we can't check, and they're allowed to police themselves."
Gerald Beals of 10 Poquanticut Ave. said Belcher "is running a Pittsburgh operation in little Easton now and they weren't always doing that. That's what they've snuck by us."
In December, the consulting firm Earth Tech of Concord will begin environmental testing in and around the Belcher plant. The company will test for emissions, dust, noise and odors at a cost now estimated at $79,000, to be paid for by Belcher as part of the consent order.
At the request of the neighborhood group FoundryWatch, Earth Tech has established a toll-free telephone number, 800-344-4432, Ext. 4730, to log specific complaints from residents about odor, smoke and soot.
There is also an email address, belcher@earthtech.com, where residents can log days and times they detect odor, soot and noise, and how it affects their quality of life.
The testing is expected to take up to four months to complete.
Meanwhile, the foundry's immediate neighbors on South Street were exasperated by another persistent problem, the apparent failure of Belcher's septic system, which was reported by George Allen to be under water on Tuesday.
Allen, of 59 South St., and his neighbors, Allen D. Bowden of 55 South St. and James A. Howarth of 107 South St., repeatedly pressed Board of Health members for a timetable on solving the problem.
Health Director Wade D. Saucier and two board members in attendance, Robert J. Kane and Gil Heino, said they would take the matter up at their meeting on Monday night.
Saucier said Belcher employees are supposed to inspect the septic system regularly. But Allen said he and Heino walked the site on Tuesday and found no evidence of footprints in the snow, suggesting no one from the plant had been to the rear of the property, which borders his own yard.
Vicki-Ann Downing can be reached at vdowning@enterprisenews.com.
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