Bellingham leaders seeking to restrict overnight work by ABC Recycling’s ship-loading operations on the waterfront got an earful Monday, Dec. 11 from officials who had concerns over the proposal.
Code language currently being developed by city attorneys and the Bellingham City Council would prohibit “construction and industrial noises” between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. that “unreasonably disturb” people in residential areas.
City officials acknowledged the new ordinance is being crafted for the benefit of residents of South Hill and other neighborhoods, who say that crashing and scraping sounds emanating from Bellingham Shipping Terminal until 3 a.m. have disturbed their sleep. ABC Recycling occasionally loads scrap metal into vessels at the shipping terminal, for overseas transport. The most recent loading was in late September.
Through an agreement between ABC Recycling and the longshoremen’s union, crews will stop work at midnight in an effort to appease affected residents.
Rob Fix, executive director of the Port of Bellingham, which manages the shipping terminal, told the council Monday that a beefed-up noise ordinance would harm many maritime businesses, not just ABC Recycling.
Fix said he anticipates that more than 25 companies will be “affected negatively” if the new ordinance passes. He gave two examples of businesses on port property: All American Marine, which runs large exhaust fans while it paints boats during the night; and Bellingham Cold Storage, which unloads ships on a 24-hour schedule.
Fix also questioned plans for how the new rules would be enforced — by a police officer on the scene who would need to make a reasonable determination that industrial noises were disturbing “the peace, comfort and repose of others,” as the code language states.
“The way that this is written is very subjective,” Fix said. “That could be detrimental to our businesses.”
City attorneys said they would train Bellingham police officers on how to decide when a noise met the nuisance requirement.
“It would have to be a significant noise, both in volume and duration,” city attorney Alan Marriner said at Monday’s council meeting.
Police Chief Rebecca Mertzig told the council residents might be frustrated by her department’s slow response to noise complaints, especially on busy nights.
In “the grand scheme” of crimes, Mertzig said, “this would be very low-level.”
Some council members, most notably Lisa Anderson, were intent on making the new rules work. Anderson called for escalating fines for repeat offenses, up to $5,000. She added that jail time for company owners who flouted the noise ordinance would be a last resort but wouldn’t be “off the table.”
Previous city councils didn’t foresee a disruptive operation such as the ABC Recycling scrap heap when they approved waterfront activities some 20 years ago, Anderson said.
“I see this as not just about what’s happening with the metal pile and the noise that comes into … multiple neighborhoods,” Anderson said. “This is … setting the parameters for future industries and development.”
Further deliberations over the noise ordinance and a final council vote are expected sometime next year.
Fix suggested holding off on the new ordinance until after ABC Recycling loads its next ship under the new hour restriction. He said council should wait to see if the midnight stop time is “effective enough to satisfy the masses.”
The next scrap-metal loading at the shipping terminal isn’t scheduled yet, ABC spokesperson Riley Sweeney said Monday. He said he anticipates it happening “in the first couple months” of 2024.
