Now that the final approval has been granted, a sound barrier will be built around the Town of Vienna’s leaf mulcher about two weeks before mulching operations stop.
The town collects leaves from residents, mulches them and then distributes the mulch back to the residents. The mulching operation has had several homes in various town-owned properties, and it is currently on a property on Beulah Road.
The property, however, is in the middle of a residential area, and the neighbors complained about excessive noise from the mulcher and other machinery that operates on the site. Residents have also complained about the smell of the rotting leaves.
Responding to the complaints, the Town applied, to itself, for a permit to operate the mulcher. In September 2004, the Vienna Board of Zoning Appeals granted the Town a one-year conditional-use permit based on the premise that a noise attenuation barrier be constructed around the mulcher. Sound levels would be measured before and after the construction of the barrier to determine if the noise had been sufficiently mitigated.
In December, the Town Council appropriated $65,000 for the design and construction of the barrier.
On Jan. 27, the Vienna Board of Architectural Review approved the construction plan for the sound barrier. Now that the plan has been approved, Dennis King, director of Public Works for the Town, will order the necessary parts. King estimated that the parts should be in the Town’s possession in about one week and that construction would take four to six weeks, depending on the weather, putting the tentative completion date for the barrier in mid-March. Mulching operations end on April 1.
“The Town’s got to go through all the permits and approvals that everybody else does,” said Mayor M. Jane Seeman in an interview the next day. “There was no foot dragging for any special purpose. This is how bureaucracy works.”
Seeman acknowledged that the process could have been handled better. “We probably should have started this whole procedure a year ago,” she said.
THE BOARD of Architectural Review meeting itself reflected the charged emotions on both sides of the issue. Several neighbors surrounding the site came to speak about their opposition to the mulcher.
The board, however, has the authority only to discuss the aesthetics of a proposed construction. Board member Rebecca Hartley gave the example of a retaining wall constructed at a business on Maple Avenue. The board cannot examine the structural integrity of the wall, rather its materials and color, Hartley said. “In some ways our hands are tied. We don’t have the power to go beyond our authorizing statute,” she said.
The speakers then began to focus on the aesthetic impact of the barrier. Linda Ebersole noted that the other fences in the neighborhood are split rail, chain link and privacy fences. “We don’t have anything like this in our neighborhood,” she said. “This is going to significantly alter the character of our neighborhood.”
“It certainly is a distinctly different element,” said board member Paul Layer. Layer suggested that the board might require the town to plant some screening plants around the barrier to camouflage it.
Hartley pointed out that it may be premature to require the screening. “If there is a possibility that it might be taken down, it might not be fair to require it at this time,” she said, referring to the chance that the barrier might be found to be ineffective.
The board members decided to wait until after the testing has been completed. They attached a condition to their approval that if the barrier should be granted permanent approval, the Town would come back to them with a landscaping plan. The measure was approved unanimously.