Both sides in a noise dispute in the Petaluma River warehouse district agree they love their mixed-used neighborhood.
But some residents in a nearby condominium complex complain that Cowgirl Creamery and Three Twins Ice Cream are creating so much racket they can't enjoy the ambiance of their diverse, walkable neighborhood.
Creamery owners counter their manufacturing operations comply with the city's noise limits and say they've already undertaken hugely expensive measures to muffle the sounds in an effort to be good neighbors.
The clash illustrates the thorny issues that can arise when businesses and homes share close quarters, something most Sonoma County cities are encouraging with infill development and mixed-use projects.
So far, the city has supported the businesses.
But residents of Celsius 44 condos, across First Street street from the creameries, are appealing a unanimous planning commission ruling in favor of Cowgirl Creamery co-owner Sue Conley.
Some suspect the city is going overboard to appear "business friendly" to the creameries in response to heat its leaders have taken over the controversial Target and Lowe's projects.
Cowgirl Creamery has been at the site for about three years and the condos were built in 2008. Three Twins began leasing space in 2010.
Neighbors say the addition of cooling equipment installed near the street last year has made the situation untenable.
"We lived across the street from Cowgirl Creamery for years and we were fine with it because at 5 o'clock, everyone stopped the noise," said Anne Hiatt, who lives with her husband directly across from the creameries' shared loading dock.
Today, it's different, she said.
"It's just 24/7, nonstop," Hiatt said.
When he sleeps with his windows open, neighbor Larry Tracey said, he is awakened in the wee hours when machinery cycles on and off.
Conley and Three Twins founder Neal Gottlieb said they have spent a combined $80,000 to baffle the sounds with a partial enclosure and a sound-deadening wooden gate.
Their multiple noise studies show sound levels fall below the city's 60-decibel outdoor limit, even with every piece of equipment on, "which never happens," Conley said.
"I don't know what else to do," she said.
Conley is also on the hook to pay for the city planning consultants' time, which she said has already cost $18,000.
"I feel like this neighborhood we're in is a model for the future of mixed-use. I think it's a way we have to live, and we have to learn how to get along and be courteous to our neighbors," Conley said. "I feel like we've done everything we can do to minimize our impact. And there's nothing more we can do."
Gottlieb is even more emphatic: "If you look at the hundreds of people who live in the vicinity, very few complain - and they're being very unreasonable."
The loudest equipment, a cooling tower, isn't used overnight, he said.
Resident Gail Odom, whose second-floor window overlooks the creameries, wants the city to revise the "smart code" that governs the area's eclectic uses, which include restaurants, cafes, homes, condos, a recycling center, a granite fabrication shop and the creameries.
"To make mixed-use succeed requires being fair to residential uses as well as factories," she said, noting that Conley has wide support from those in Petaluma's ag community.
Neighbors contend the creameries' impacts are greater than anticipated or approved by the city. They dispute the creameries' noise studies, saying their sound readings have shown noise as high as 62 decibels.
"There's the noise ordinance and there's the right to the quiet enjoyment of your home, which is a much broader law," Hiatt said.
"We all knew what we were moving into," Tracey said. "Nobody here wants Cowgirl Creamery to go away, or even Three Twins. We just want silence after working hours."
Gottlieb said the $60,000 he's spent on the sound enclosure equals the amount he started his fast-growing company with.
"We've gone above and beyond what's reasonable," he said. "We always have, and they continue to harass us."
[END_CREDIT_0]You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 762-7297 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.
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