Home Depot Noise Issues

	Quiet Hours: Home Depot has several signs posted in its parking lot to remind employees that their noise can be heard by neighbors on Harrison Avenue.
	SVCN file photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

Commission recommends more standards for local Home Depot

Hardware store may build wall, add gate to reduce noise problems

By Erin Mayes

Campbell planning commissioners revisited neighbors' ongoing problems with noise from the nearby Home Depot at their last commission meeting Oct. 9. They recommended a modification of a city ordinance that would require the hardware store to, within 90 days, build physical barriers between the store and the residences.

The Campbell City Council will decide on the proposed ordinance modification within the next few weeks.

In February 2000, the commission cited the store for code violations after a resident complained that Home Depot, 480 E. Hamilton Ave., was not in compliance with the approved hours of operation for unloading. At that time, the store manager apologized to the neighbors who live on Harrison Avenue, directly behind the store, and promised to make changes.

More than a year later, the store's new manager is dealing with the same noise, storage and landscaping problems that some neighbors say have been around since the store first went up 10 years ago.

City Planner Kristi Bascom told commissioners at their Oct. 9 meeting that noise has been an issue for neighbors for a number of years, even though the existing city ordinance, created to ensure that residents are not adversely impacted by the store's activities, is very specific about actions that are and are not violations.

"Neighbors have documented dozens of violations, including from just a few weeks ago," Bascom said.

Working together, city staff and the store's management have decided that the only way to stop noisy activities at the store from occurring directly behind the neighbors' homes is to build physical barriers between them.

These barriers, such as an automated gate, would restrict truck traffic behind the Home Depot, near the neighbors' homes. To further minimize disturbance of residents, a 12-foot-high masonry wall would be extended along the store's southern property line.

Newly appointed Commissioner Bob Alderete, who wasn't on the commission when Home Depot was cited in February 2000, asked how long the violations have been occurring and what percentage of the time the neighbors have been living with it.

"I wouldn't want shopping carts rolling by my bedroom door at 5:30 in the morning," Alderete said.

One neighbor, who spoke and asked not to be named in the newspaper, told the commission, "I have been here since the beginning, which is how long this has been going on. It's time you did something and you meant what you did."

The store is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., and shopping carts are wheeled out before the store opens and wheeled back in after the store closes, Bascom said.

Community Development Director Sharon Fierro likened the noise to thunder.

Commissioner Elizabeth Gibbons told Home Depot's manager, Dave Hamer, that he is in a very awkward position.

"I, for one, am not willing to see you come here again," she said. "I want some sort of approval from the management above you. This is inexcusable. I consider this a very serious matter, so whatever you can do to convey the conditions to [your superiors] would probably be a good idea."

Alderete asked planners if it is possible to impose a financial penalty on Home Depot when it violates the ordinance. Fierro said that it is not an option because fines are not included in the ordinance. She said the city could cite the store for a criminal infraction, which could result in a court case, or they could establish a new ordinance that would include monetary penalties.

"The problem is not going to go away until Home Depot is penalized somehow in monetary terms," Alderete said.

Also being considered as an addition to the ordinance is the imposition of a time restriction, which would limit the hours the store may be open.

Addressing Hamer directly, Alderete said, "There's something that concerns me that I'm not hearing from you--that you'll do whatever it takes to help satisfy the problem. We're getting to the point where they're investigating litigation. We need to hear that you seriously want to fix this problem."

Hamer assured Alderete that he is willing to do whatever it takes.

"I am very sincere in making sure we get this accomplished to the satisfaction of the neighbors and the city council," Hamer said.

The commissioners changed some of the conditions of the approval of a modified city ordinance to include a requirement to complete some of the physical alterations, such as landscaping, in a timely fashion. Also, they changed the time that a door in the lumber area may be rolled up from 5:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. 

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