The Meeting

I'm so proud to live in this neighbourhood. Truly. The people here are fantastic and they care deeply about this place. There were about 20 residents who attended tonight's meeting. A couple said that the noise didn't bother them personally but that they were there to show their support for neighbours who were affected by the noise. Many were kind enough to share their own experiences.

One of the things that we were asked this evening was the times/days that the noise takes place. Here's the thing, there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to when the noise occurs. Late at night, early evening, mid-morning, late afternoon... it's all over the place. What days? Again, there's no clear pattern that we can make out.

Today there was quite a bit of banging this morning, a bit of reefer noise, tomorrow there could be nothing at all, the next day reefers may run for hours on end. Some noise we don't hear at all but our neighbours will say they are disrupted. There are times we're faced with a great deal of noise that they can't hear. It really is difficult to pinpoint times and dates.

This blog expresses my personal experience with the noise bombardment from CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics. I don't expect it to make one bit of difference to the actual sound assessment. Residents know full well that CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics are the source of the noise issues in this neighbourhood and that activities at the facility exceed all other neighbourhood noise. We welcome an honest, unbiased study. All we're hoping for is the truth to be revealed, and some sort of resolution.

Meeting Day

The noise stopped at around 9:30pm on Friday... it had been going for at least two continuous hours. The noise has just this moment started up again. I'm hoping that it won't last for hours but who can tell.

I went to pay for my groceries yesterday and the transaction was declined, my account had been robbed. Given a short while to get over the initial shock of it, it really didn't bother me too much. What really blows me away is that my bank was notified that my account could be compromised and the issue was resolved fairly quickly. This noise issue, which is affecting the quality of life and well being of the people who live here, has been allowed to continue for over 2 years. I really feel that the noise bombardment from CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics is a far greater violation.

Today is the day we meet with the sound engineer. I wish I could be optimistic but our hopes for resolution have been dashed so many times before. I've become so accustomed to hearing "Sorry, nothing we can do about it" that I'm starting to expect it.

Thankfully that little round of noise has ended. Only a few minutes this time. Let's see how the rest of the day pans out.

And it continues...

still going strong.

Noise, noise, noise

I spent much of the afternoon in my basement... I could STILL hear the noise from across the street.

When we left the house just before 5pm the noise had been rumbling on for hours. We've just arrived back home and it continues.

Today I got an email from Dalton McGuinty's office. They replied to let me know that they've asked John Gerretsen, Minister of the Environment, or a member of his staff, to respond to my concerns directly.

My concerns? I've been told by the Ministry of the Environment that under section 9 of the EPA Chill Chain Logistics/CB Freezers does not require any approval from MOE. I do not understand why section 14 does not apply to them.

Here's what I'm talking about...

Prohibition, discharge of contaminant 14. (1) Subject to subsection (2) but despite any other provision of this Act or the regulations, a person shall not discharge a contaminant or cause or permit the discharge of a contaminant into the natural environment, if the discharge causes or may cause an adverse effect. 2005, c. 12, s. 1 (5).

“contaminant” means any solid, liquid, gas, odour, heat, sound, vibration, radiation or combination of any of them resulting directly or indirectly from human activities that causes or may cause an adverse effect;

1. (1) In this Act, “adverse effect” means one or more of, (a) impairment of the quality of the natural environment for any use that can be made of it,(b) injury or damage to property or to plant or animal life,(c) harm or material discomfort to any person,(d) an adverse effect on the health of any person,(e) impairment of the safety of any person,(f) rendering any property or plant or animal life unfit for human use,(g) loss of enjoyment of normal use of property, and (h) interference with the normal conduct of business;

CB Freezers, Chill Chain Logistics have caused just about every 'adverse effect' on that list so why are they STILL allowed to continue. I'm looking forward to hearing what Mr. Gerretsen's office has to say about it.

And off.

Are you kidding me? It only took 4 hours!

What would you do if someone was tormenting you for 4 hours? I don't think that I could listen to something I liked for 4 hours... nevermind this sort of assault.

And here we go again.

So, we really were lucky last night as the reefer in the front loading area was moved just after 11 pm.

This morning however reefers have been running continuously since at least 5:30 am. It's now 9:30. That's 4 hours of continuous noise from CB Freezers, noise coming from the Chill Chain Logistics refrigerated trailer units. When one turns off it only lessens the noise slightly because there are three of the things parked there and turned on.

As soon as I finish up some work I'm spending the day in the basement in the hopes of escaping this bombardment.

Our Lucky Day

The rumble has stopped after only an hour+.

I guess we won't have a repeat of the 10 hour marathon.

I won't be holding my breath that the silence will last.

One Hour

One continuous hour of noise from our neighbours at CB Freezers. One hour of continuous noise from a reefer that is parked at the front loading area but should be parked in the West lot (not that that does any good to the people in the west).

I listened to hours upon hours of banging today. Banging so loud it sounded like road construction when they break up the old paving. Now the drone of a Chill Chain Logistics reefer.

It used to be that at least there was some peace during the day. Not any more.

Just in time...

Just as I'm about to put my child to bed the rumble starts again.

They've been banging about the entire day and now the night will be marked by the noise from the reefer that is parked in the front loading area of CB Freezers.

Sweet dreams indeed.

Death as an option.

As expected the noise from CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics continued from Saturday afternoon and ran well into Monday.

Monday afternoon brought a city representative to my door. She was dropping off a notice to residents about the meeting with the sound engineer on Monday the 25th. I asked her what we were to do in the meantime. She replied "I'm just the messenger."

She asked if I was the one with the blog and if I could really hear the noise from inside my house. I answered 'yes' and got upset. I'm not really a crier but I find I can't control it anymore. The tears automatically begin to flow because I'm so tired and frustrated and no one seems to give a shit that we are suffering.

"This is really affecting you huh?" she asks. I assume she doesn't know that I've asked the Ministry of the Environment if someone needs to cause themselves bodily harm in order for someone to take action... I'm certain she doesn't know that a resident has offered to do it.

New neighbours should be talking about the weather, not about death as an option for dealing with noise contamination. The thing is that my neighbour is not alone. I've been in my home, listening to the droning noise coming from CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics and thought "If I were dead I wouldn't have to listen to this anymore." But here's the thing... I don't want to die, I love life, I love my family, I love making the most out of what I have... it's an uncontrollable thought that pops into my head because there is no other choice. They will not stop and no one will stop them.

CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics does not make medicine, they do not ship organs for transplant, they are not feeding starving masses, their businesses do not better the world. We are suffering because of frozen meat meant to be shipped to China and Russia. We are suffering so that they can make money at the expense of our health, sanity and quality of life.

Have a nice weekend...

CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics have been much noisier during the day than usual this past week. On Monday I was provided with hours upon hours of banging and rest of the week gave way to greatly increased reefer and truck traffic. This in addition to nighttime noise. At least we could look forward to the weekend and perhaps a little break from the noise... nope.

On Saturday at 3:30 in the afternoon a reefer was parked in the front docking bay, directly across from our house, and left running. Despite assurances that the reefers would be kept in the West lot, there are also four reefers in the East lot... two of those have been left on.

My husband has been awake since 3:30 a.m. because of this noise. This noise is directly caused by CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics. CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics has disrupted normal family activities in our home. The actions of CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics has disrupted our sleep, has been the direct cause of health issues, has been the direct cause of mood changes, has been the direct cause of stress of such levels that I was placed on sick leave from work, it is the direct cause of being medicated for these stress and sleep issues.

I need to be medicated so that I can live in my own home because of CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics.

We are not the only household in this neighbourhood requiring 'aids' in order to sleep in our own homes and keep our sanity intact. I personally know of two other households using aids in order to sleep because of the problems brought on by CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics.

We are not the only household whose health and quality of life are diminished as a direct cause of Chill Chain Logistics/CB Freezers. Representatives from any of the Willard family companies can tell me whatever they like but many people in this community feel that CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics are directly responsible for their health and quality of life issues.

And yet our 'good neighbours' continue to bombard us with noise. CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics and the Willard family companies, continue to disrupt our lives and our sleep and effect our health. Do they really care about this neighbourhood? I don't believe they do for a second.

A not so quiet Sunday dinner.

Yesterday evening a reefer was placed in the front loading area of CB Freezers. It was left there running. Initially it ran for a continuous hour disrupting our Sunday dinner, then intermittently throughout the night, waking us up.

I know that CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logisitics keeps doling out the 'we want to be good neighbours' thing but really... if I woke my neighbours up and was this disruptive to other peoples lives you can be certain that someone would put a stop to the un-neighbourly behaviour.

My husband spoke with Gary Dyke, Chief Administrative Officer of Quinte West, this morning and we have an update:

"... the City has engaged Coulter and Associates to conduct an engineering study with respect to the issues raised regarding CB Freezers.

A date has been arranged whereby John Coulter will meet with the concerned residents to receive their input directly. The meeting will be held on Monday January 25th at 6:00 pm in the Multi-purpose Room (downstairs to the left of the stairs) at City Hall. If you could forward this information to the rest of the neighbours who attended the earlier meeting with Councillor Alyea, it would be greatly appreciated."

We'll be there with bells on.

Here we go again.

CB Freezers/Chill Chain Logistics, parked a truck with a running reefer in the East lot and woke my husband and I up early this morning.

We've been told that the running reefers would be kept in the West lot... obviously this did not happen last night.

As I mentioned in my last post, the company claims they want to be good neighbours... this obviously didn't happen last night either.