Lawrence planners grant preliminary and final site plan approval to the pharmaceutical company to build the 42-foot-tall towers.
By: Lea Kahn
LAWRENCE — Township planners gave the green light to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Monday to build two new cooling towers, next to an existing pair, on its Route 206 campus.
The Planning Board granted preliminary and final site plan approval to the pharmaceutical company to build the 42-foot-tall towers. The towers will be located at the Central Utilities Building, which provides heating and cooling for the buildings on campus.
Project engineer Charles Eno told the planners that the company is "short of cooling tower capacity" for the summer months, and that is why the two towers are needed. Also, the Planning Board approved the construction of two new office buildings last month.
The new towers will be state of the art, Mr. Eno said. This means one of the two current cooling towers can be taken out of service. That tower would be used only if one of the other three towers is out of commission, he said.
The tower that would be taken out of service is the one closest to Carson Road and that is not blocked by the utilities building, he said. Noise from the other three towers would be blocked by the utilities building.
Engineer Lewis Mitleman, who designed the two cooling towers, said they will be identical to the existing towers. The towers are 42 feet tall, and they are all built of brick.
The new towers are designed so that there will not be any immediate noise when they are started up, Mr. Mitleman said. The noise will grow gradually. And because of new technology, the new towers shouldn’t be as loud as the older towers, he said. The older towers will be retrofitted to reduce noise.
Neil Moiseev, the noise consultant hired by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., said the towers would run at 50 percent of capacity between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. so they will meet the township’s noise ordinance. The new towers will be tested to see if they exceed capacity after they become operational next fall.
Attorney Christopher Tarr, who represents Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., said the company will continue to perform quarterly noise tests. It is possible that the new towers will be quieter than the older ones, he said. If there is a problem, it will be fixed, he said.
Despite those assurances, several neighbors were not satisfied. Noise is still generated by the pharmaceutical company’s utilities building and cooling towers, they said.
"This nuisance was created 15 years ago (when the utilities building was built)," said Carson Road resident Bob Hunsicker, who lives closest to the site. "I want some resolution to it. I have been fighting it for 15 years. I have heard that the noise will never be above the noise level, but it always is."
Eric Zwerling, the township’s noise consultant, agreed that noise can be heard at Mr. Hunsicker’s property especially low frequency noise. The township has the strictest noise standards that he has ever seen, he added.
Carson Road resident Pat Clancy compared the noise to a train "constantly going through" the neighborhood. She said she has heard noise for 11 year.
"For 11 years, I have been told that it will be fixed. What the decibel level is, I don’t know, but it sounds like a train. I question, can it be fixed? It just doesn’t make sense. The township has to fix it and give us some quiet," Mrs. Clancy said.
Municipal Manager William Guhl, who sits on the Planning Board, said there would always be noise from the utilities building, but it would meet the threshold level. If the noise exceeds that level, steps must be taken to fix it, he said.
"What the neighbors are saying is legitimate, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any noise. Bristol-Myers Squibb is obligated to maintain the noise standard it has agreed to," Mr. Guhl said.
Planning Board Chairman Joyce Copleman assured the residents that the township will continue to test for noise.

