The Town of Malta has a new, stricter noise ordinance, but it doesn’t apply to the most significant construction project in the town: theGlobal Foundries microchip plant.
After several revisions, the Malta Town Board has adopted an updated noise ordinance that sets thresholds for noise levels within the town at 50 decibels from the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. and 60 decibels between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. The ordinance also limits the use of power tools (including chainsaws and leaf blowers) to during the day and limits construction hours on Sundays.
Those parameters do not apply to the 222 acres within the Luther Forest Tech Campus that are host to GlobalFoundries’ Fab 8 project, though.
“The general town code and local laws are applicable to the entire town, and then there are those specific to the zoning for the Planned Unit Development within Global Foundries,” said Anthony Tozzi, Malta’s building and planning director.
Limits for the sound leaving the property lines are stricter than those in the rest of the town: 45 decibels at night and 55 decibels during the day.
Noise at the construction site was an issue long before ground was broken.
“We have stayed within the standards since construction began in June of 2009. Right now we’re in the gray area between the construction phase and the operations phase,” said Travis Bullard, a spokesman for GlobalFoundries.
“There have been some complaints from adjacent neighbors who were finding levels in excess of those limits. We’ve been hearing reasons for the excess including (ground) elevation differences,” said Tozzi of complaints.
Since 2009, Global Foundries has received 125 calls via a 24/7 hotline for reporting any issues associated with the site.
“Of those calls, 42 were job seekers, 62 were from businesses (not related to the noise), 11 were from telemarketers and eight were noise complaints. The noise was not related to us but had to do with other projects in the town,” said Bullard.
Of particular concern are fly wheels associated with continuous power supply units. These would allow enough time for generators to kick onshould Global Foundries lose power, and some of them are quite loud. A full power outage at the fabrication facility could be a costly disaster forGlobal Foundries.
GF has employed many strategies to combat noise, including anearthen berm approximately 60 feet high, five noise monitoring censors placed along fence lines and periodic checks with handheld censors from places such asrooftops. Additionally, special baffles have been installed to filter noise on the electrical services building.
That building had four custom-made baffles installed last fall.Two were placed on the south side, and two on the north side of the building.
“Those were not part of the original design,” said Bullard. “Wewanted to be a good neighbor and reduce noise if we could.”
Global Foundries has been working with Novus Engineering of Delmar on noise issues, and the company recommended the baffles.
“We have reduced the noise there by 14 percent,” said Bullard.
GF is now in the midst of a project that includes the installation of exhaust fan stack silencers on the roof of the electrical services building. The silencers will be placed on top of a piping system onthe roof and should be completed in June.
Aportion of a letter sent to residents by GlobalFoundries reads, “The newExhaust Fan Stack Silencers are expected to help further reduce the noisecoming from the Fab 8 site. This is an intensive project requiring custom manufacturing equipment and specialized engineering and design work to remodelthe structure of the building, but we are moving forward quickly.”
The Global Foundries facility is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Global Foundries will hold a quarterly “Neighborhood Meeting” on Thursday, March 22, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Fab 8 Admin building. The meeting is open to the public.
