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San Tan Valley fed up with cement factory noise

Posted at 2:32 AM, Sep 25, 2015
and last updated 2015-09-25 05:32:43-04

A cement company in San Tan Valley is stirring up controversy in one neighborhood.

Cell phone video shows crews working into late hours of the night, making lots of noise and keeping residents awake. 

It's become a nightmare for people who live in the lower Pecan Creek subdivision. 

Lisa Bartlett showed ABC15 cell phone video shot at 1 a.m., showing what keeps her and her husband up almost every night. 

“It’s not just until 10 or 11,” said Bartlett. “It's all night long."

Lisa and her husband Richard rent a home in San Tan Valley right next to Cemex, a big cement company.

In the cell phone video, grinding and buzzing is very audible, and trucks drive back and forth. Bartlett says it will happen every five minutes for long periods of time. 

“When they crank up the plant, when it's going full tilt, it shakes the house this far away,” said Richard.

Other neighbors said they are tired of it too. 

“It's horrible and it starts at night and it runs all night,” said Tiffany Price. “I don't even notice it during the day. I wait to sleep with my windows open. It’s miserable." 

The Pinal County Sheriff's Office is responsible for noise complaints in the area. An ordinance was passed in 2006, stating that quiet hours fall between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. 

Bartlett says she tried to call several resources but felt like her calls we passed onto different people and she gave up.

ABC15 did receive a statement from Cemex, saying they are complying with all federal, state, and county regulations.  

But if it keeps up, Bartlett says she and her family will have to find somewhere else to call home. 

“If I would have known that we were going to be living by a concrete factory that operates at night, we would have never moved into this house,” Bartlett said. 

The Sheriff’s office is encouraging people to call them with noise complaints. A deputy will come out assess the situation. They may come out the area and use a decibel reader to test if the company Cemex is acting within the law.