Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

From the People’s Republic of Cambridge…
Neighbors make some noise over noise: Idenix
seeks variance to keep rooftop machinery going

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1348680924/Neighbors-make-some-noise-over-noise-Company-seeks-variance-to-keep-rooftop-machinery-going

›By Jillian Fennimore
Oct 21, 2008

Cambridge – Neighbors are angry over a Hampshire Street pharmaceutical company’s plan to skirt the city’s noise control ordinance.

Idenix Pharmaceuticals last week was ordered to pay $300 a day for violating the ordinance for its loud rooftop equipment.

Representatives from the company are seeking approval from the License Commission to sidestep the city’s noise control ordinance, but neighbors said the city’s current limits on noise should stay for the sake of a good night’s sleep.

Last week, the commission issued a “cease and desist” order against Idenix — which develops drugs for viral and infectious diseases — for violating the ordinance since the building’s rooftop equipment generates more noise than the city allows between the hours of 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. on weekends. Since Oct. 14, the commission placed the fine each day Idenix violates the ordinance. Idenix has appealed the ruling.

Elizabeth Lint, executive officer of the city’s License Commission, said this is the first time a request has been made from a company to operate outside the city’s noise ordinance.

On Oct. 30, the commission is expected to rule on Idenix’s request for the special variance.

On Tuesday, Mayor Denise Simmons authored a resolution in opposition of the variance. The resolution states that Idenix’s stock went up almost 200 percent last year [how, exactly, is the stock price relevant?]. As of July, the company’s cash and security holdings totaled $80.6 million, “not supporting their contention that adhering to a city ordinance will result in economic hardship for the company,” the resolution read.

Idenix spokesperson Teri Dahlman said they have made an effort to muffle most of the facility’s sound, and hopes the city will recognize it.

“We have undertaken significant efforts to reduce the noise level at our facility, and believe that great progress has been made to address our neighbors’ concerns,” she said in an e-mail. “If the variance is granted, the existing cease-and-desist order [and fines] will no longer be relevant. We are hopeful that the city will recognize the effort that we have put forth and that a positive outcome will result at the hearing.”

But Area-4 Coalition members said allowing Idenix to make more noise would set a bad precedent.

Under the noise control ordinance, an applicant seeking a variance must demonstrate why complying under the current rules would present “unreasonable hardship” on them.

“They are asking for a hardship variance — we think that’s significant,” said Elm Street resident Gerald Bergman. “It’s certainly clear this community is united in having the commission uphold the statute the way it was written.”

Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Minka van Beuzekom said that although Idenix has been a good neighbor, they have had difficulties adapting their one-story space for lab use.

Overriding the noise ordinance would only create more chaos for the neighborhood.

“The [current] standards are acceptable,” said van Beuzekom. “This isn’t a reason to grant a variance.”

Peter Lindquist, a Market Street resident and direct abutter of Idenix, said the noise —generated from heating and cooling units and exhaust systems — has been a 24/7 ordeal.

“Our concerns are that this noise has seriously diminished the quality of life in our neighborhood,” he said. “It’s better than it was before, but we are not willing to accept anything less than bringing [the noise] to the city’s standards.”

But it’s not only noise that the neighborhood has been worries about.

Last spring, Idenix — through its landlord, Metropolitan Life Insurance — requested from the city to increase its capacity of chemical storage. The commission approved the storage increase.

To date, Idenix has not revealed to residents the names of any of the chemicals or solvents it stores because of Homeland Security reasons.

Lindquist said more research should have been done before Idenix moved in.

“I strongly feel something needs to be done when companies move into border areas,” he said.‹


<font size=3><font color=red> “The efficient-market hypothesis may be
the foremost piece of B.S. ever promulgated
in any area of human knowledge!”