Location: Michigan – when we moved into our home in a neighborhood, we had a farm field behind us. We were not aware that the field was owned by a nearby factory and they expanded directly behind us. We now have factory (steel tubing plant), parking lot and a massive industrial cooling tower directly at our property line. The noise is unbearable. The factory opens all service and side doors, so we get littered with factory noise (machinery, metal banging and clanging, intercoms, forklifts, etc). The worst is the cooling fan (Whaley Towers) – it sits right at my property line and runs almost continuously between 6am and 4:30pm. Between the fan and factory noise, we are not able to enjoy our backyard and all windows and doors must remain shut. Our township or village does not have specific noise ordinances. The township has new leadership and they are doing their best, but the owner of the factory is unwilling to do anything since she is not technically in direct violation of anything. The tower only clocks in at ~62dB at our property line shared with the factory, but the noise is just awful. Are there any other avenues that we can go down? When the factory expanded, we were told they would build a six foot berm lined with mature evergreen trees. We got a 3.5 foot berm lined with small bushes and young deciduous trees, so there is literally no noise buffer between industrial and residential. I’ve FOIA’d the township to try to understand where the breakdown occurred and am waiting on documents, but all landscaping was signed off on by the planning commission. Residents were never told about the cooling tower and it doesn’t require approval since it’s apparently considered machinery. I certainly don’t expect the factory to go anywhere or to be completely quiet, but there needs to be some noise abatement, especially with the fan. Any recommendations?