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False alarms from fast-food restaurant is upsetting Madison residents

Monday night the Madison residents complaining about the Chick-fil-A false alarms stepped forward in front of City Council.

Update (02/24): Monday night the Madison residents complaining about the Chick-fil-A false alarms stepped forward in front of City Council to express their concerns.

John Emich went first and shared his experiences and concerns of the noise. Madison Mayor Paul Finley responded with some frustration saying, “I just heard about this problem this week.”

Emich assured Mayor Finley that their issues aren’t necessarily with the City, but with how slow the communication through City departments has been. Emich said he reached out to his District Councilman John Seifert in January and has called Madison Police multiple times.

Madison Police Chief David Jernigan said he was just notified of the issue Monday afternoon. Once he heard of the problem, he requested more patrol in the impacted area. He and Mayor Finley said they will work to resolve the issue as soon as they can.

Another neighbor, Sheila McFerran said she hopes this problem gets fixed before it escalates and creates a more serious problem.

Some homeowners in Madison say there’s some noise coming from a local business that has kept them up at night for months. Neighbors say it’s a violation of the city’s noise ordinance, and now they’re trying to figure out how to solve this issue.

“You know Madison is a great town, and we enjoy living in Madison…Madison has become a place where you can’t get a good night sleep,” said homeowner, John Emich.

He says he and his wife haven’t been able to get a good night sleep for the past three months. Just about 300 yards away, on the other side of their home sits Chick-fil-A. Emich says the restaurant’s false alarms, and also employees dumping trash are what’s waking him up in the morning.

“Each time they assured us it was a fault system, and that they were fixing it and this would no longer be a problem and they were getting it fixed. It has continued to be a problem,” said Emich.

Residents from across the street say they can hear the noise too. “So it comes off first like it’s a loud siren, and then it’s a voice, and then the voice just keeps going and going – anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour,” said homeowner, Sheila McFerran.

Emich says he’s sent e-mail, after e-mail and has reached out to Chick-fil-A but there seems to be no resolve. He says he’s also reached out to the city, but believes there’s been no code enforcement of the city’s noise ordinance.

“There are 9-1-1 calls, there are non-emergency calls where the police have responded to Chick-fil-A, and they still have not done anything about it, that I’m aware of,” said Emich.

Emich says the last time he’s heard the noise was the weekend of Valentines Day. However the false alarms are occasional, and the trash being emptied has always been an issue. WZDX reached out to Chick-fil-A, but no official word yet from the management or owner. We also reached out to Madison Police Department, and didn’t hear back from the officer involved in the case.

Neighbors plan to attend tomorrow’s Madison City Council Meeting to talk about the noise they’ve been experiencing. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.

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