Despite sound blankets, neighbors continue to voice concern over Wissahickon Middle School's chillers

They have tried the municipality. They’ve tried the school district. They even have an engineer living the struggle alongside them. “They” are the neighbors of the Wissahickon Middle School. And they are sick of the noise.

As previously covered by Wissahickon Now when the community rallied to speak at an August session of the Lower Gwynedd Township Board of Supervisors, many living in the vicinity of the middle school are upset by the relocation of the building’s chillers. A necessary part of the HVAC system for the school’s air conditioning, these pieces of equipment emit an alarming level of volume, which has neighbors quite upset.

The same residents attended the Wissahickon Board of School Directors meeting on Monday to express continued concerns. The neighbors have stated that, since August, the district had attempted to resolve the problem with “sound blankets,” which were designed to muffle the decibels coming from the noisy chillers. However, the residents nearest the school say they’ve made little to no difference in the volume.

Nick Militello, who lives on Montgomery Road, said that the district has still not provided a study conducted by Harrison Sound, a firm the board hired to assist in the problem.

“Do it right the first time,” said Militello. “I would have argued that the chillers be put back in their original place. They lasted 44 years there, and that is a phenomenal return on investment. An appropriate sound barrier, now that they are outside, should block all noise. That would be best.”

Irene Lewis, who also lives on Montgomery Road, said that despite complaints and attempts to resolve them, she has not seen, nor heard, any difference.

“We were promised an acoustic blanket, which was finally installed in mid-October after we lived with the sound all summer,” said Lewis. “I guess you are aware, it did not work. We heard it until the end of last week, when it was turned off.”

A new consideration of creating a sound board, Lewis said, was rumored not to be constructed until June of 2025.

“It is meant to correct the deficiency of the blanket,” said Lewis. “Based on the school district’s request, it will employ Harrison Acoustics again. Why would we trust them to give good advice this time?”
Lewis said she was also concerned that no neighbors were asked to sound-test the blankets. In fact, she said, no input from the area’s residents has been requested at all, according to Lewis.

“I don’t know why we have to dig so hard to find out about plans that affect us,” she said. “The noise starts in April, and this [wall] will not start until June. What is the plan April to June?”

Lewis added that she was running out of patience, much like many in the neighborhood.

“It seems we will be expected to be patient again,” she said. “We’ve endured enough.”

Eric Rudolph, both a man living in the vicinity of the sound, as well as an engineer by trade. He said that it not just a matter of frustrated neighbors.

“We need to eliminate the noise for the safety of the students,” said Rudolph.

The engineer suggested that a contractor be hired not just to complete the job, but to do so on a performance-based payment plan.

“We recommend a contract with a chosen expert in the matter that ensures the work will meet the ordinance,” said Rudolph. “The contract is performance based, and failure to meet requirements will be met with financial penalties.”

Rudolph additionally suggested that future work consider lessening the sound to a level even lower than legally required, as the coming years of wear-and-tear are likely to increase sound levels with age.

The board’s policy is not to engage with members of the public during live meetings, and instead to post any necessary information on BoardDocs, the online portal which houses the district’s meeting agendas, minutes, and videos. At this time, no such notes have been added to the agenda.

However, Wissahickon Now reached out to the district for comment on the matter. Kristen Rawlings, the district’s communications coordinator, offered some clarity on what attempts have been made to rectify the situation.

“The middle school chiller issue was brought to the district’s attention in April, and testing was set up in August to determine what the sound were being generated by the chiller,” said Rawlings.

Richard Gilly, a long-time resident of Montgomery Road, told the Lower Gwynedd Township supervisors that the issue had been going on since the chillers were moved. He said “supposed adjustments” were made in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Lewis said that her son had been filing Right to Know paperwork for months, noting some neighbors had been emailing the district since 2020.

Rudolph said, during the August Lower Gwynedd meeting, that in 2023 a buildings and grounds supervisor visited his home.

“[He] acknowledged the noise, and on April 19 conducted a sound study,” said Rudolph. He alleges that, while that study did show the chillers to be making sound levels above the allowed decibels set by township ordinance, they were taken on a cool day.

“As reported in the studies, on a 56-degree day of the study, a much cooler-than-typical day on which a chiller is operating, and still, the ordinance was exceeded by four decibels,” said Rudolph in the August public comment section of the supervisors’ meeting.

Rawlings said that study concluded that sound blankets would improve the issue.

“This study was received by the district and included a recommendation to install custom designed ‘sound blankets’ for the chiller,” said Rawlings. “The company that makes these blankets came out and laser measured the chiller. These measurements were then used to design the blankets specific to our chiller’s measurements.  They were installed in October, as the fabrication of the blankets takes six to eight weeks.”

While the blankets were in production, Rawlings said the district continued to look into the issue.

“During the fabrication process of the sound blankets, Superintendent Dr. [James] Crisfield visited the area with appropriate district personnel, and it was decided that a sound wall should be put in, as requested by our neighbors, in addition to the sound blankets, even if the district met the ordinance,” said Rawlings.

The district also took the opportunity of the Nov. 4 school board meeting to continue to address the challenge.

“At the School Board Meeting held Nov. 4, 2024, the School Board approved the cost for the design of this wall and bid package for the proposed wall,” said Rawlings. “Once the design is completed, the district plans to put the bid package out for public bid and then select a vendor to construct the wall.”

During the Facilities and Transportation Committee report, the Board’s Vice President Joe Antonio said that the wall was one of the three action items to discuss that evening, which were “reviewed and discussed last week.” Item “16.3” stated it was an “Approval of the proposal from CHA Consulting Inc., formerly D’Huy Engineering, to perform design, bidding, and construction administration services, including Harrison Acoustics services, for acoustical improvements of the middle school chiller for a cost of $24,000, plus reimbursable expenses.”

Board President Amy Ginsburg asked if this was simply a design stage.

“At this point, they’re just coming up with a design. We’re not building a wall for $24,000?” asked Ginsburg.

Wissahickon’s Business Administrator Timothy W. Bricker, who oversees the district’s facilities, said that was true.

“That is correct,” he said. “Once the design is completed, it’ll have to pass it out for bid. Once the bids are submitted, we would be back to the board for approval.”

Ginsburg additionally asked what assurance the district had about “this wall actually correcting the sound issue.”

Bricker said that “in addition to the wall,” there are “other steps it may take, depending on what happens.”

“Until it’s built, we don’t know the sound reflecting,” he said. “There are some sound panels that we would also consider putting in there. It all depends on the design that the acoustical engineer comes up with.”

Bricker also confirmed after Ginsburg’s asking if CHA was comfortable working with Harrison Acoustics again, that it was. Others asked if the timeline could be accelerated to occur prior to the necessity of air conditioning for the building.

“The only timeline we have is for the design to be completed,” he said. “Once the bidding is done, the winner will actually work with us to set the timeline. There’s been no timeline set other than to get this out to bid.”

Bricker said the team hoped to get the item out to bid by January. He added that there was no “June” timeframe he was aware of, as was mentioned in public comment.

“The acoustical engineer will be looking to design so that it reflects the sound up, which would reduce the sound going out,” said Bricker of the proposed project. A precise reduction level was not mentioned.

School Board Director Deanne Morris asked for Bricker’s advice, as community members both want a solution quickly, but doubt the efforts of this particular contractor, Harrison Acoustics, as it was no corrected by them previously.

“This is the first next step,” said Bricker. “We put the sound blankets in. We’ve already noticed that there was a reduction in the sound. Whether or not it was below the ordinance or not is unknown. We haven’t tested that or gotten any results yet back on anything associated with that. Until we do, won’t know where that stands. The decision previously was, regardless of where it is, because the sound could still be heard, that we’d move forward with a sound wall, which was originally asked for by the residents.”

Bricker also clarified thanks to Board Member Paul Badger Jr.’s question, that the blankets will remain in place and be a buffer that is in addition to the wall.  They will not be removed.

Board Member Zeffy Karagiannakis said she would “not be opposed” to having a second opinion, outside of CHA and Harrison, to weigh in on the topic “to see if they have a difference in opinion” on how to best solve the issue.

“But if we don’t move forward with this, it’s just going to prolong the situation,” she said. “Since we’re not building anything, we’re just getting it scoped out, we’re not really putting a structure in place here, so I kind of feel like we need to keep getting more data and more information to find a resolution for this.”

Ginsburg agreed, saying the board could continue to seek other solutions while still progressing with the wall planning.

“That doesn’t prohibit us from doing other things at the same time,” she said of getting design work done now.

The motion did then pass unanimously, and the project’s design will soon be underway.