SEABROOK — It took seven months of haggling, and more complaints than they could shake a garlic clove at, but on Tuesday night, the Planning Board approved Hanna International Foods' request to double the size of its food production plant.
The 25,000 square foot expansion of its facility between Railroad Avenue and the South Access Road to the nuclear power plant comes only after a number of concessions from the Middle Eastern food product maker owned by George Hanna of Haverhill.
Primarily, Hanna must complete by Aug. 1 the already begun installation of a charcoal odor-eating filter on the venting of its spice room, as well as raise the venting stack 10 feet above the roof, to about 28 feet above ground level. The purpose is to lift the garlic odor that permeates the atmosphere surrounding the plant, a smell that's garnered years of complaints from Hanna's closest neighbors Kevin and Lynne Borges.
The filter also pleased those living in Seabrook's elderly housing complex, which will be a very close neighbor as soon as the plant's size doubles.
Should the charcoal filter not suffice, more charcoal may be requested, said Planning Board Chairwoman Susan Foote. But the hope is Hanna and its neighbors will be reasonable and will work together from now on, ending the hostility that's developed over the years.
"If you get a whiff every once in a while, you get a whiff every once in a while," Foote told abutters. "A lot of things occasionally smell."
In addition, Foote told Hanna's plant manager Wayne Peters the company isn't to ignore its neighbors' welfare and complaints. Working around the garlic smell all day may cause him and others to become accustomed to the smell, she said, that doesn't mean future complaints can be dismissed. If complaints persist, she said, town officials expect Hanna to work toward a solution with its neighbors, not antagonize them, which has been an issue in the past.
Hanna must also erect hundreds of feet of 15-foot high sound deadening fencing near the housing complex and the Borgeses' home, to muffle the sound of its delivery trucks and employees, as well as the sound of its air conditioners. The fences must be up before construction on the expansion is started and before the new road into the plant is completed.
To remove frequent tractor trailer traffic from residential Railroad Avenue — which has caused complaints and concern over the past decade — Hanna will built an 1,100 foot long new access road from the plant to the South Access Road. The new road is possible only through an agreement between Hanna and Florida Power and Light, the owner of the nuclear power plant located at the end of South Access Road.
Hanna's expansion became necessary due to the expansion of the business, Peters said. Although the application sent to the Planning Board for the expansion stated the expansion was necessary because Hanna received a contract to produce a line of food products for food guru Martha Stewart, that wasn't confirmed. At a past meeting, George Hanna refused to talk about the Martha Stewart connection.
"I don't want to talk about Martha Stewart," Hanna said at a past Planning Board meeting. "We're expanding because our business is growing. We have two new contracts, one national and one international. That's all."
