Noise secreting from the Kimlin Propane Co. may soon be a problem of the past.

At its April 27 meeting, the Town of Gardiner Planning Board authorized the owners to erect a noise-absorption fence surrounding the 14 Steve’s Lane property as part of its long-standing effort to expand its parking lot.

Noise mitigation has been a high priority for the project, especially following complaints from neighbors that business was disrupting quality of life in Gardiner. In January, a property owner directly next to Kimlin submitted a letter of complaint to Building Inspector Andy Lewis claiming the trucks send vibrations through her home. She included several videos in her letter, with timestamps between 2:30 and 4:30 a.m. on a single night.

Kimlin’s attorney, Jennifer Gray, assured the board that the fencing, in addition to other landscape screening tools, such as vegetation, would mitigate the sound. After construction is completed, Kimlin would perform a post-installation noise study to review the fencing and vegetation’s effectiveness, which will then be compared to a noise study Kimlin had conducted before construction began.

Board member Josh Verleun pointed out, however, that noise isn’t the only nuisance Kimlin’s neighbors have to deal with; street racers often take advantage of the property.

“I’m sure this will come up in the public hearing once we get to that stage, but we’ve received letters from neighbors of the property regarding some off-road racing-type activity, including links to some Instagram videos, other things that show some activities on the site that are not related to the propane storage,” Verleun said. “I don’t know to what degree that can be addressed with the applicant, but that has certainly been something that plays into the noise and other concerns and been raised several times by neighbors.”

Other letters of complaint included references to overwhelming stench of gasoline during deliveries, lack of tree buffers between the tanks and neighbor properties and dumping piles of debris near an existing pond..

With the approval of the fence, Gray said she expects it to be erected before the Planning Board’s May 25 meeting and that the noise study would follow soon after. She was hopeful a public hearing on the project could be scheduled for that meeting, but the motion failed.

“Having multiple public hearings starts to frustrate the public. It’s unduly burdensome for the public to come to a hearing only to find out that at some later date, maybe months later, they can then attend to see what the noise study shows, what it’s like with the fence up, so I think think it’s time for a public hearing,” said board member Carol Richman. “I think it should be in the future when most of, if not all of, these things occur.”

After agreeing that the public hearings, when scheduled, would span several months, three other board members joined Richman and shot down the motion. The public hearing will not be scheduled until at least June, at which point the fencing will be up for several weeks.