8/11/2020
Neighbors of Angelica textile services in Pawtucket say they’re fed up with long-standing issues at the linen company.
PAWTUCKET – The laundry list of complaints against Angelica Textile Services keeps mounting year after year, and residents who live near it see no end in sight.
Eight years ago, the City Council approved a laundry license renewal for Angelica, but not without first mandating six stipulations in response to more neighborhood complaints.
Those requirements, according to meeting minutes from 2012, were to:
• Clean the grounds and have an ongoing maintenance program.
• Erect an eight-foot fence in the employee parking lot.
• Routinely go around the affected area and pick up blowing trash.
• Post a sign in the employee parking area telling employees to reduce trash and noise.
• Minimize as much as possible the noise from backup alarms on trucks.
• And allow no truck parking on Dartmouth Street.
History repeated itself last week as the council again approved a license renewal with stipulations based on neighbors’ latest complaints, including ones related to noise, trash and truck traffic.
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While a representative for Angelica described an essential business that’s become even more critical as it delivers linens to hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, residents said their quality of life and ability to sleep is also important.
Part of the problem in the area of Angelica, located at 482 Pawtucket Ave., is that the neighborhood is zoned industrial despite having homes right next to it, said City Councilor Meghan Kallman. Even if the city were to change zoning, she told neighbors, Angelica would be grandfathered in because it’s been there for so long.
Challenges have arisen as the area has changed, particularly around noise and blocking the street, said Kallman, which is why she was recommending approval of the license renewal with some stipulations.
Residents pleaded with City Council members at the Aug. 5 virtual council meeting to fix the many issues they continue to face on a daily and nightly basis.
Michael Black, of 67 Trenton St., said there are many problems, including overgrowth leading to spreading poison ivy, as well as scattered trash. The most serious problem, he said, is the noise of trucks at “any hour of the day or night,” an issue he’s been dealing with for a decade.
As Black described it, trucks are constantly being moved around what is a small lot. He described revving of engines, honking, and constant beeping of backup alarms as trucks move from one loading dock to another. He said he has no idea why there’s so much moving about of large trucks at all hours of the day and night, saying it would be “almost comical” if it wasn’t so frustrating.
The backup alarms are intended to be a disturbing noise to alert people to a truck backing up, said Black, but imagine being a neighbor who is “constantly being alerted to something that you don’t need to be alerted to.” He said it is “extremely jarring,” with no option to open windows.
“It’s a big problem for us residents, and it’s astonishing to me that it’s allowed,” he said.
Black recalled attending meetings on approval of other businesses in the city and hearing officials take action when residents expressed concerns over how a lighted sign might impact them.
“I’d take 100 signs with lights over constant beeping,” he said, adding that he feels the constant noise is infringing on the rights of residents around the company. Black said he’s been working from home and has to put his air conditioner on fan mode just to drown out the daily noise.
Dionne Hyman, of 159 Dartmouth St., directly next to Angelica, said the company doesn’t do a great job of maintaining and grooming its property, leading to increased rodent activity. She urged the company to invest in a company to trim the trees and keep the property clean.
Hyman said the past 13 years here have been filled with constant noise, sometimes at 3 or 4 a.m., well outside of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. city requirements for quiet. Closing the windows doesn’t help, she said, including when the drivers are beeping at night to be let in. Beeping of horns wakes her up at 3 a.m. and lasts until 5 a.m. when employees arrive.
Among the conditions imposed by the council on the laundry license renewal at Kallman’s request, after she spent hours assessing the situation with neighbors at the site a week earlier, were:
• To have trucks idle for no more than two minutes in the street.
• To have trucks access the loading docks only from Pawtucket Avenue, reducing the problem of beeping.
• To have no more than two Angelica trucks parked on the street at one time.
• To have all interactions between neighbors and Angelica drivers dealt with by police.
• For the company to conduct a daily sweep of the property for lint and other trash.
• And, at Councilor Mark Wildenhain’s request, to have truck drivers be given a phone number to call someone to open the gate in the middle of the night instead of honking to get someone’s attention.
Attorney Richard Beretta, representing Angelica, said the company has tried to be a good corporate neighbor for five decades, even previously investing $13,000 to solve the problem of a ventilation fan making too much noise.
“I think that we certainly want to work with the neighbors to minimize the impact of the business,” he said.
He said drivers are told to only park between the signs allowing parking and that they’re told not to block driveways. Prior to Kallman spelling out the stipulations, Beretta said the company was proposing the two-minute limit on truck idling. He said there have unfortunately been some rough interactions between drivers and residents, and was asking that Pawtucket police handle any such disputes.
Angelica is an essential business now more than ever, said Beretta, supplying sheets and towels to hospitals during a pandemic. Unfortunately, he said, it’s a business that requires drivers to arrive and leave outside regular daytime hours.
On the issue of backup alarms, Beretta said the law is clear about why they’re needed, and they’re particularly critical in a situation where people are delivering to hospitals and have a lot on their minds, perhaps not being as aware as they should be.
The company continues to try very hard to deal with issues, said Beretta. On the issue of trash, he said he’s been to the site a couple of times recently and has not noticed an issue. He noted the past commitment to better policing, and while he is of the belief that the pledge is being upheld, he also respects the comments of residents.
“I will inform local management that they have to apparently do a better job of policing trash,” he said.
He said he also wasn’t aware prior to last week’s meeting about drivers sounding horns to be let in, but said he would certainly mention it to the company to minimize any such sounds, especially late at night.
Beretta thanked Wildenhain for the suggestion to give drivers a cell phone number to call.
Prior to the vote on the latest license renewal for Angelica, Hyman noted how the city continues to have these meetings about issues at the company year after year. She said she thinks it’s time to create a committee to come up with real solutions and real action items to address what’s happening here.
The Link LonkAugust 12, 2020 at 02:14PM
https://www.valleybreeze.com/2020-08-11/pawtucket/complaints-about-laundry-business-piling
Complaints about laundry business piling up - Valley Breeze
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