The planning board process has moved at a very slow and deliberate pace for the developers of the proposed Milk Factory, who seek to turn the burned-out shell of the former Borden Milk Factory into an upscale resort.

“I mean, how much longer do you think we’re going to be going through this?” Associate Developer Noah Bobrowsky asked the Town of Montgomery Planning Board at a recent meeting.

Landscaping and lighting plans still need to be reviewed, he was told. There was also discussion about the location of proposed wells on the property. And inevitably, discussion of the Milk Factory turns to questions of noise, of particular concern to Shanti Mandir, the neighboring retreat center.

“This is a particularly sensitive receptor next door, unlike the other venues that we approved,” said Planning Board Attorney Richard Hoyt. “So I think that has to be reckoned with.”

The neighbors had expressed concern at prior meetings about noise in general, and in particularly at outdoor events held under a tent.

Planning Board Chairman Fred Reichle said some recommendations had been made to minimize the noise emanating from the outside event area. He suggested looking at what other venues in town, such as the Barn at Colden House, are doing.

Bobrowsky said studies have been done to show what it would be like to have outdoor events on the property with scenarios that would include a DJ or live band.The results, he said, would show acceptable sound levels at the property that were below the allowable emissions set forth in the local law. The Barn, it was noted, had a project description embedded into the Negative Environmental Impact Declaration adopted for their project.

“The project narrative actually says that it’s a seasonal event tent,” Bobrowsky said. “It’s not a permanent structure. It’ll be up from, I don’t know, April to October, let’s say.”

The board pushed him for specifics.

“We can give you that general overview. But again, I think in terms of constraints, they’ll be pretty open. You know, it’ll say we won’t go past 1 a.m. And it’ll be April to October,” he said “But we’re not going to say on this amount of events a year, on this many days of the year, it just doesn’t seem necessary.”

Reichle suggested keeping the public hearing open until the scheduled September 13 planning board meeting. The applicant will also be invited to appear at a planning board work session in early September to iron out any other details.

“I think you know that we’re very much willing to work with the town and it’s not like we’re going to just disappear and start building right away anyway,” Bobrowsky said. “So if there’s items that need to be worked out, we’re willing to put the work in to do that but just to keep the ball rolling, we’ve got shareholders that want us to keep making progress on this and it just feels like we’ve been on a long road with no end, but hopefully you guys feel like that’s coming to an end.”