Three residents of North Little Rock's downtown Argenta neighborhood gave their support Monday night to a proposed city investigation of complaints about noise and odor from a rail-yard operation adjacent to the historic district's homes.
The North Little Rock City Council answered by unanimously approving, without discussion, directing its city attorney's office to review the complaints about Nevada Railroad Materials' operation in the Union Pacific rail yard just west of North Broadway between Fourth and Eighth streets.
The council's resolution -- sponsored by Alderman Linda Robinson, with fellow Ward 2 Alderman Maurice Taylor added as a co-sponsor during the meeting -- asks that "complaints and evidence" be examined to determine whether the city should take any action that would resolve residents' charges that the city's nuisance laws are being violated.
The resolution directs recommendations be made to the City Council by Dec. 15.
Patrick Stair, a Fifth Street resident since 1999, said he has documented more than 400 neighborhood complaints for the past 20 months about noise and creosote odors from the rail yard, some from blocks away. Creosote is a wood preservative used in the production of railroad ties.
Stair said that the only odors in Argenta used to come from a former cookie factory.
"Now we get to smell creosote," he said. "The smell of cookies used to make us hungry. The smell of creosote just makes us disgusted and gives us headaches.
"There are people who have threatened to move out of the neighborhood. If this does not constitute a nuisance, I don't know what it would take."
Thomas Crnko, who is also a Fifth Street homeowner, said that the city had allowed Nevada Rail to move its operations into the rail yard adjacent to the neighborhood "sort of by the back door" in late 2012, a move that caused "a significant nuisance" to residents.
John Pflasterer, president of the Argenta Neighborhood Boosters and the city's fire marshal, told the council that the neighborhood has been negatively affected "by the smell and the noise of Nevada Rail."
City officials interviewed residents about the odor and noise complaints last year, used noise meters to check sound levels and monitored odors for harmful effects. But the city found no violations, city officials previously have said.
Nevada Rail officials have met with residents and city officials previously. The company made adjustments to its operations.
Monday's resolution by the City Council comes after additional complaints by some residents.
Aldermen also unanimously approved an amendment to outdoor storage regulations that will take effect Jan. 1. The change is to clarify language to specify that "items not manufactured for outdoor use" and that "storage of scrap metals and dismantled equipment in residential zones" will be prohibited from being stored in an open area outside of a residence.
The new ordinance is meant to prohibit the storage of furniture and other items outside of homes as a way to tidy up neighborhoods.
Metro on 10/14/2014