Sep. 22--PITTSFIELD -- A west Pittsfield business is vowing to be a much quieter neighbor by minimizing the outside noise emanating from its facility.

Officials at the Ice River Springs water bottling plant at 1505 West Housatonic Street have agreed to muffle -- and at times eliminate -- the sound from a external cooling tower. The equipment is located on the north side of former KB Toys warehouse and has annoyed and frustrated homeowners since the Canadian-based company opened its latest facility there last December.

The residents this summer petitioned the City Council seeking relief and local plant officials are willing to oblige them.

"I should have some tangible plans in two weeks," said plant manager Frank Versaggio. "I am confident we can resolve this issue."

Versaggio added he's contacted the cooling tower manufacturer, Baltimore Air Cool, about several options to deaden the noise "with some type of muffling device."

The local company officials promise comes after they met with nearly a dozen residents and Ward 5 Councilor Jonathan Lothrop late last week at the plant to discuss how to lessen the noise, even though testing shows the decibel levels within legal limits.

Lothrop came away from the meeting that Ice River Springs is "sincere" about resolving the issue.

"[Versaggio] is a very straight forward, up-front person," said Lothrop. "I think the residents appreciated that."

Several residents

contacted by The Eagle on Monday were unavailable for comment, but they have advocated for some type of barrier or other solutions to block the sound from reaching their homes and disrupting their quality of life.

"It's keeping people up at night," Jean M. Steele-Wren told The Eagle in July, who lives 200 feet away from at 461 Lebanon Ave. "I shouldn't have to listen to it 24 hours day."

Ice River Springs has been operating two 12-hour shifts Monday through Friday requiring the cooling tower be used around the clock. But Versaggio said he's also working to limit the need for the equipment as both a noise and cost reduction measure.

"We're also exploring some internal options to our manufacturing process that should reduce, by 50 percent, the use of the cooling tower," Versaggio said. "If we're not running the cooling tower, we're saving money."

Versaggio added, he will keep Lebanon Avenue residents, Lothrop and city officials updated of what cost-effective solutions they expect will work to quiet the cooling tower.

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