There still is no noise ordinance available for borough residents to peruse.
Council on Wednesday failed again to advertise the proposed ordinance for public inspection.
Like last month, a motion to advertise died for lack of a second.
After listening to officials from local industries express concerns, Councilman David Watts made the motion to advertise. The only other board member present who has been pushing to advertise, council President Deb Piontek, is prevented from seconding because she chairs the meetings.
Councilman Ed Faybik, who last month motioned to advertise, was absent.
Even if Faybik had been present, the motion likely would have failed because there are more board members in opposition to advertising.
Councilman Jason Fry said he preferred to delay making the proposed ordinance available to the public until local industry officials are comfortable with the provisions.
Fry said council should negotiate "what everyone wants to see in the ordinance."
Several industry officials said it would be impossible for them to meet proposed decibel levels, even though the borough has agreed to make the levels more lenient.
Most hard numbers were not available on Wednesday.
Because the ordinance isn't available to the public, borough officials will not release a copy to the Valley News Dispatch -- although thye have allowed certain business owners to review the document.
But, according to some council members, the decibel limits at night would be 40 in R-1 residential districts and 50 in R-2 residential and commercial districts.
To put those numbers into perspective, a quiet bedroom at night would be about 35 decibels.
"We can't hit those numbers," said Jay Cruickshank, an official with Lane Construction, which plans to build a plant in the borough. "The changes do not go far enough for what we're doing."
Cruickshank requested increasing the maximum noise levels by 10 decibels.
"Forty decibels is just unbelievably low," said Tom Endres, a Reliant Energy mechanical engineer. "It's just not even realistic."
Endres said Reliant's property abuts an R-1 district.
He agreed that the ordinance needs updated but said council has to give a little more.
Officials from several other borough industries attended the meeting. A PPG official said it would be difficult to say if the company would have a hard time meeting the proposed levels.
Lance Zielinski, an official with Allegheny Energy, questioned council on how the company would be affected given that most of its plant sits in Springdale Township.
Piontek said, "I think a lot of this would be addressed on a case-by-case basis."
Mayor John Molnar and several council members expressed concerns about the proposed ordinance driving industries from town because it would be too stringent.
Piontek disagreed, pointing out Reliant is constructing a smokestack and Lane has applied for a zoning variance for the plant it hopes to build.
Meantime, before council could approve the ordinance, it would have to make it available to the public at least six days prior to a vote.
