When Code Enforcement Officer Tim Burns took a walk through
downtown Hollister on Sunday, he noticed something different about
the atmosphere.
After a pause of uncertainty, he looked toward the San Benito
Foods cannery, where the shooting steam and scorching noise, which
pervaded the surrounding neighborhood during the annual 10-week
canning season, had vanished.
When Code Enforcement Officer Tim Burns took a walk through downtown Hollister on Sunday, he noticed something different about the atmosphere.
After a pause of uncertainty, he looked toward the San Benito Foods cannery, where the shooting steam and scorching noise, which pervaded the surrounding neighborhood during the annual 10-week canning season, had vanished.
The local cannery devoured its last tomato of this summer’s canning season late last week without giving notice to city officials. And now the company will scrutinize methods to decrease the incessant sounds, which many residents said were at their loudest in its 88-year existence.
Burns said San Benito Foods, during its nine-month off-season, will be held accountable if they do not lessen the noise. Local cannery management did not return phone calls Wednesday. Nor did William Scott – the vice president/controller of the parent company, Washington-based Neil Jones Food Companies.
“Clearly, it can’t be an issue other businesses in the industry haven’t experienced,” he said. “It’s not unique to Hollister. There should be people who know how to soften the noise.”
The controversy amplified in late July when a Sally Street resident complained to the city. That prompted Burns to conduct a survey, which involved taking decibel readings from an array of homes in the area.
His measurements ranged from 69 to 91 decibels, which far surpassed the 50 to 55 decibels acceptable under the noise ordinance. Burns and City Attorney Elaine Cass subsequently met with then plant manager Larry Pitts, who committed to pursuing a noise-alleviating solution before the 2004 canning season.
Pitts, for unknown reasons, is no longer with San Benito Foods. City officials were unaware that Pitts, who had been the cannery’s local chief administrator for 1-1/2 years, had left the company.
That, according to Burns, should not change or abolish the company’s commitment to fix the problem. Cass also said the cannery has committed to “developing a way” to reduce the noise.
“The bottom line is, it’s a corporate responsibility,” Burns said. “Whoever assumes responsibilities, somebody, I’m sure, will be delegated to deal with that.”
In the meantime, between now and July, Burns said the city will communicate with San Benito Foods about attempts to lower noise. Shortly after Jan. 1, Burns plans to request a progress report, he said, “because I want to know.”
“We’re not going to wait until the 2004 canning season starts to find out (if they’ve found a solution),” he said.
Cass, however, reiterated the city’s stance to remain conscious of the facility’s long-standing history at the location. Plus, she said, regardless of the surrounding tracts of housing, the cannery’s location has been zoned for industrial use.
The cannery was built in 1915 and was owned by several companies before San Benito Foods purchased it in 1977. The neighborhood has, in essence, grown up around the plant.
“What we can’t have is intensification of the use,” Cass said. “It’s something that has been accepted in the community for a long time.”
Hollister City Councilman Tony LoBue, who worked a few summers at San Benito Foods during its canning season, said the cannery’s broad employment base takes priority over possible noise issues. San Benito Foods employs 600 people, about 500 of whom work only during the canning season.
“They’re a job-producing company that’s been around for 90 years,” LoBue said. “I think we can put up with noise for a couple months. They’ve been there for 90 years and I’m not going to be the one to put them out of business for a little noise.”
City officials did not specifically address potential enforcement if the cannery does not make progress in its planned noise reduction before July. Mayor Brian Conroy said it would be the discretion of Cass to decide further steps.
Conroy said he doesn’t believe it’s an issue of the cannery’s history at the location.
“The cannery used to operate at a certain noise acceptable to the people,” he said. “That level of noise has evidently increased and affected the quality of life of the people who live there.”
Regardless of action taken before next year, Burns, a resident of Hollister, said he is relieved the noise has stopped for now.
“I truly enjoy the quiet,” he said.
