Villines say their home life has been ruined
When Pratt Paper opened in fall of 2023, pretty much everyone involved saw it as a home run. The number of good-paying jobs numbered more than 300. The local investment total was $500 million.
Just recently at a Henderson County Fiscal Court meeting, an official said that Pratt’s economic impact each year in the county is $300 million.
Heck, there was even a recent mention of Pratt and the local praise it received upon its 2023 opening by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
So, there weren’t many naysayers when it opened. And there still aren’t many.
But there are a few.
One Wilson Station Road resident says noise that comes from the plant has made her homelife miserable.
Anita Villines, who lives about a mile away as the crow flies from Pratt, is an avid gardener and loves to work outdoors. But since Pratt has come to town, she says that hobby has all but fallen by the wayside. Even with noise cancelling earbuds in, Villines said the noise overwhelms the music.
Anita and husband, Mike, say they deal with three types of noises coming from the plant at their home, those that sound like a massive shop vac, a gigantic box fan, or a jet roar.
“The jet roar is the loudest,” said Anita Villines. (Listen and watch a sample of the noise in a video supplied by Anita Villines at the end of this article.)
Before Pratt opened more than two years ago, their plot was a dream home they’d lived in for more than 20 years. Now, she says, there are times when she’s sat in her yard and cried instead of gardening, feeling that her yard had been taken from her.
Meanwhile, nearby on U.S. 41-A, Taylor Tabor says her property is about ¼ to ½ of a mile from Pratt. She described the noise as a very loud and constant humming, buzzing, whirring—“extremely loud machinery.”
She said whatever the machinery that makes the noise is, it isn’t run all the time. But “it’s very loud when they’re running it.” When the machinery is going, it runs for multiple hours at a time, Tabor said.
Unlike Anita Villines, who said the noise disrupts her life even when she’s inside her home, Tabor said she can’t hear the noise when she’s inside her residence. She said there is a woodsy area between her home and Pratt and that might dampen the noise some.
Tabor said she still tries to get her 8-year-old daughter out on their property to enjoy the outdoors but it’s “not as enjoyable as it should be. We kind of push through it,” she said.
Anita Villines also said, like Tabor, that the noise doesn’t come all the time.
“It’s not 100% of the time, but it’s a lot of the time,” Anita Villines said. And it’s enough to cause her anxiety. Upon waking, she thinks, “How bad will it be today?”
Farther away—about 3 miles away—Tabor’s father, Rick Payne, said a breeze in his direction can bring the noise. He lives on U.S. 60-West, not yet to Corydon.
“When the wind is blowing that way, I can hear it,” he said.
Closer to the plant, he also owns acreage abutting his daughter’s land. The noise—if it’s coming—takes away from enjoying simple things, like a sunset.
“As far as quality of life, it does have an impact,” he said. “It really is annoying.”
Payne spent his working life in maintenance at Brenntag and in the oil fields. He thinks the noise is a gear box or motor that can “probably be cut considerably.”
He suggested spray foam insulation or some structure to deflect the noise—“anything to knock down the sound waves.”
Though situated on the 425-Bypass, the land Pratt sits on is city land, and so the company would fall under the purview of the city of Henderson’s ordinances.
Assistant City Manager Buzzy Newman has heard Anita Villines’ complaints, starting back when he was still the city manager. He’s also been in contact with Pratt officials.
He sent city employees to the Villines’ property line to measure the decibel level there. Newman said the readings came back below the level of what constitutes an unlawful noise in the city of Henderson’s section for ‘Noise Control’ in the code of ordinances, Section 16-9.
“There was nothing abnormal at the time,” he said.
The ordinance, however, states that a reading must be taken “directly across the street from the source of the sound at the back side of the sidewalk, or in the absence of a sidewalk, the back of the curb shall be used”—not from the property line of the complainant.
Additionally, the ordinance states that it’s against the law for noise to exceed 80 decibels from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. in light or heavy industrial areas. Newman said he didn’t know the level of the decibels that was recorded.
The Hendersonian made an open records request for the report of decibel levels taken at the Villines’ property line. The city’s response was that there wasn’t a report.
In fact, the only document the city found related to the request was a complaint that Anita Villines made on the “Talk to the Mayor” online communication tool on the city’s website that came in February 2024. It said, in part, the sound “…is not only impacting my quality of life since there is no escape from it, it is obviously greatly devaluing our property as well. Why didn’t the City require noise mitigation since there is technology to help muffle industrial noise in return for all the concessions Pratt was given at taxpayer expense, and why can’t something be worked out with them now? I have audio that I would be happy to share. I’m asking for your help.”
Newman agreed there was no report. He said he didn’t know the exact readings, but said they were below the accepted levels that constitute a noise nuisance in the city’s code of ordinances.
“We can’t detect anything out of the ordinary,” Newman said about the visit city officials made to the Villines’ property line when they attempted to get a decibel reading.
Anita Villines said the decibel readings she gets from the equipment she uses in her yard is, at its highest, 55 decibels and 40 decibels inside her home a mile away.
What further confuses the issue is that Pratt—according to Newman—claims that the noise isn’t coming from its plant. Furthermore in Pratt’s defense, Newman said the noise could be coming from any number of plants in that direction, closer to the river.
“Sound travels,” Newman said.
He gave an example of a complaint from a Vine Street resident years ago of a noise that took a while to figure out. Finally, the city learned the noise came from a blower fan at the top of a silo at the Gavillon grain storage facility on South Main Street.
Newman said it’s not acceptable to accuse a company when there’s no way of proving it.
Because it’s not been proven, Newman said Pratt’s going to say the same thing to the city. “Prove to us it’s us,” he said.
Which is what a Pratt official said to Anita Villines, she said, in a phone call in which the response from the employee was “How do you know it’s us?”
Both Anita Villines and Tabor say that the noise only started once Pratt began operations.
Multiple attempts were made by the Hendersonian to reach Pratt—messages left, calls made, requests that local officials help find someone from the company to speak with. They were unsuccessful. (The Hendersonian is still interested in a follow-up article to show Pratt’s side.)
“I don’t know what to do,” Newman said. “Why should the city pay for something when we can’t prove it?
“I just don’t have enough factual information.”
Newman said Anita Villines continues to call and complain.
“I don’t know what to do for her,” Newman said.
He also said the city hasn’t received any other complaints from other neighbors saying that Pratt is making the noise.
Tabor, meanwhile, said there’s got to be some way to alleviate the noise.
“Surely there’s a way to dampen the noise,” Tabor said. Or, perhaps the machinery that makes the noise can be run on a set schedule, when people know what time it’s coming or when they are at work, she said.
Villines said she only wants to enjoy her home and her yard again. She said there are other companies that have mitigated sound nuisances in other areas. She said it could have been done as the plant was built and it can still be done now.
“All I’m asking for is mitigation of the noise,” Villines said.
She said she and her husband had achieved what so many dream of—owning their dream home.
“I’m sitting in mine,” she said. “Except I can’t enjoy it now.”