DAIRY CALLED A DAILY NUISANCE; FUMES, NOISE UPSET CANOGA PARK RESIDENTS.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

Ever since an all-night dairy operation started up here in December, nearby residents say the constant hum of idling trucks and hiss of air brakes have kept them awake.

Eton Mobile Home Park residents have pleaded with the city for help in quieting the trucks, but officials say they are powerless because Adohr Farms isn't breaking any laws.

Now the residents are at wits' end, complaining that the trucks also fill the air with fumes, which aggravate the respiratory ailments of many of the park's residents, mainly senior citizens.

``It gets so bad sometimes I feel that I can't breathe,'' said John Coberly, a longtime resident with a heart condition and respiratory problems.

But the city says it can do little to help.

Because the dairy lies in an industrial zone, city officials say the owners are entitled to operate the transfer station around the clock.

Inspectors from city departments have concluded that the levels of noise and fumes are within standards permitted in an industrial zone.

``They have not broken any law at all. There is nothing they are doing that puts them out of commission,'' said Francine Oschin, a spokeswoman for Councilman Hal Bernson, whose district includes the mobile-home park on Nordhoff Street near Eton Avenue.

Adohr Farms did not respond to repeated calls for comment.

Residents assert that the city is not moving on their complaints because Mayor Richard Riordan formerly had partial ownership of the Adohr Farms company.

But Riordan spokesman Steve Sugerman said the mayor sold his ownership in the company last fall before the transfer station opened, and has not sought to influence the outcome of any complaints.

Oschin said the residents who live in the 111 mobile homes in the park simply happen to have the misfortune, like the residents in a handful of other San Fernando Valley parks, of living right next to an industrial zone where land is cheap.

Before the dairy, the land was occupied by a lumber yard that confined its operation to the daylight hours, preventing the noise from cutting into the residents' sleep.

But the new dairy transfer station is entirely legal, leaving the residents with few options, she said.

One alternative would involve the residents persuading Adohr Farms to build a sound wall or to take other measures to reduce the sound level.

Another would be to have the city Planning Department declare the operation a public nuisance, a process that she said could take years if it succeeded at all.

Oschin said residents could petition a zoning administrator to open a file on the case, which would require documentation of excessive levels of noise and fumes over a long period of time.

If the zoning administrator agreed that the operation was a nuisance, the owner could be directed to cut the sound and other disturbances, she said. But, she added, ``The city is not going to tell them to cease and desist operating their business because they are operating it legally.''

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Photo, map

PHOTO Harry Tischler, left, and John Coberly are among residents who have complained about the Adohr Farms transfer station.

David R. Crane/Daily News

Map: Site of dairy