Residents are shouting over noise

NOISE from cooling systems at Shelly Boulevard Centre is deafening, yet the shouts of complaints from Eden Dunes residents are going unheard.

“I was on the phone to a friend once and he asked if I was at the airport. I was speaking from my lounge,” said irate homeowner Gary Hossack.

There are two cooling water towers and 14 units for refrigeration for SuperSpar that kick in and out throughout the night.

Fed-up with their complaints falling on deaf ears for years, a group of Eden Dune residents, including a former mayor of Port Shepstone, Danie Roos, have now turned to the Herald, in the hope that authorities and the centre landlord, Paul Lindsay, will finally listen to reason.

“Mr Lindsay keeps making empty promises and now he just ignores us. He doesn’t reply to emails and won’t answer our calls,” said Mr Hossack.

Their complaints go so far back that two municipal officials who promised action at the time, former Hibiscus Health Department head Cheryl Cwele and Protection Services officer Dave Middleton, are now in jail.

“We can’t find anyone in the municipality to take up our cause and apply the by-laws,” said Mr Roos.

Their councillor, Doug Rawlins, was  approached, but also with no joy.

To prove that their complaints were not petty, they commissioned a private company, Comspec Health and Safety, to investigate and draw up a report. It was found that the noise was a deafening 76 decibels standing 40 metres away and could definitely be classed as ‘noise pollution’.

When the wind blows in a certain direction, the noise ‘pollutes’ virtually every one of the 70 flats in the complex.

“Many of the flats are owned by up-country people and they let them out during holiday season,” said Mr Hossack.

“A year ago the landlord moved the cooling systems in front of flat 30 and down to flat 10. This has not changed anything and the problem still exists. We want to find out who approved of this move without consulting any of the residents at Eden Dunes.”

He added that residents at another holiday complex across the road, with 36 units, have also complained.

“We have agreed to build a dividing wall ourselves to block out most of the noise and Spar has offered to pay for the material, but we need the landlord’s permission to do it,” said Mr Hossack.

“For some reason, he won’t give it and just ignores us.”

They would also like Mr Lindsay to install silencers on the two water cooling systems as well as a filter on the Nando’s chimney to stop a ‘disgusting oil smell’ wafting over the flats when the prevailing wind blows.

According to Mr Lindsay he purchased the Shelly Boulevard Centre in 2001 and inherited the issue. “My consultants and myself have had meetings and discussions to rectify the noise from the air-conditioner water coolers.

“We have appointed a water treatment company which specialises in chemical requirements for water cooling towers, on a monthly inspections basis. They make sure water is calibrated with correct Ph level and no scale builds up so it can work at optimal condition,” said Mr Lindsay.

They have installed a time switch to cut out motors from 7pm to 7am to prevent noise disturbance at night while residents are sleeping.

An engineering company was called in to fabricate a stainless steel hood with proper soundproof foam installed on the inside to absorb as much noise as possible. They have also moved one of the air-conditioners closer to Marine Drive and relocated the other further away from the majority of the units and built a boundary wall to try and block off as much noise as possible.

“I have done my level best and believe there is more than 50 percent improvement,” said Mr Lindsay.

Hibiscus Coast Municipality was contacted for comment but none was forthcoming at the time of writing.