Nestlé cited in Burlington after neighbors complain that expanded plant is a disturbance (2024)

BURLINGTON — Expansion and retooling of the Nestlé plant is stirring complaints among nearby homeowners who say their neighborhood has been overrun by noise and lights.

City officials have stepped in to help, issuing a citation and fining the company $250 for failing to buffer surrounding residents from the growing industrial operation.

Nestlé has responded by erecting a 10-foot wooden fence, but some neighbors say the fence is not adequate to restore a quality of life they knew before the plant expanded.

Homeowner Michelle Cicchini said she and her family enjoyed relative peace and quiet for years, despite living next to the plant.

“You used to hear birds and crickets,” she said. “Now you just only hear factory.”

The plant at 637 S. Pine St. has undergone a $70 million transformation in the past three years that officials have called the biggest makeover since the operation began in 1966.

As part of the now-completed project, the company uprooted a row of mature trees that had insulated residents on Dunford Drive, which overlooks truck deliveries and other activity on the south side of the factory.

Nestlé USA spokeswoman Lauren Rubbo said the trees were removed because of their condition and that the company intends to plant trees in the same area later this year.

Rubbo also acknowledged the concerns from residents on Dunford Drive.

“We have responded to feedback by making adjustments where we can,” she said. “And we maintain open coordination with the city to address any complaints.”

Neighbors, however, are expressing skepticism, saying it took nearly two years just to get the fence installed.

Jody Antreassian, who lives on Dunford Drive, said the company ignored the problems until Burlington city officials got involved.

Antreassian called it “a hallelujah moment” when the company was cited in municipal court.

“Finally someone was on our side,” she said.

The situation developed in late 2022 when residents on Dunford Drive started complaining about noise and light pollution as crews were expanding the Nestlé plant in preparation for new cookie dough products.

City records show that inspectors determined residents were being subjected to noises similar to highway traffic, and to bright lights shining into their homes.

“It just looks like daytime all the time, even at night,” inspector Gregory Guidry wrote.

City officials told Nestlé that local ordinance requires a buffer between industrial and residential areas, which led to the installation of the fence.

But it wasn’t immediate.

In the summer of 2023, Nestlé representative Paul Warnecke wrote to the city that the company was having trouble finding a contractor.

“Nestlé has policies and procedures we must follow,” he said in an email to the city. “They do take time.”

After several more months, Assistant City Administrator Megan Watkins gave Nestlé a deadline of Dec. 8.

“Everyone, including the neighbors, have been very patient,” Watkins wrote to the company. “But Nestle has to come into compliance.”

On Dec. 20, Burlington police officers issued plant manager Michael Elsbury a citation for violating city ordinances by failing to install a buffer between the factory and its neighbors. Police warned Elsbury that his company could be fined every day that the problem continued.

Within days, city records show, work commenced on a 600-foot-long fence at a cost to Nestlé of $84,600.

The company failed to attend a municipal court hearing in January regarding the citation. A judge found Nestlé guilty by default and ordered the company to pay $250.

Nestlé asked to reopen the matter, and a hearing was scheduled for March 7. But the company and its lawyers failed to attend and matter was closed.

Nestlé paid the $250 fine March 13.

Cicchini and Antreassian said they never had trouble with Nestlé creating disturbances until the plant was expanded.

The neighbors said they appealed to plant management when the problems began, but only received excuses, and offers of free Nestle chocolate treats and invitations to play golf.

Even with the fence, Cicchini and Antreassian said, the noise and light pollution continue. They are hoping for tall, thick trees to provide a better buffer soon.

Antreassian said she has no regrets about contacting city officials.

“They deserved it,” she said. “They should want to be nice to the neighbors.”