Wellspring Farm abutter Cathy Mendoza still has complaints about operations at the farm. Members of the Zoning Board of Appeals don’t necessarily think it’s anything they can help her with.

Wellspring Farm, an equine therapy farm which offers treatment to children with special needs and mental and behavioral issues, has faced complaints from Mendoza and other abutters in the past about traffic and noise.

In 2016, Mendoza filed a complaint that the therapy farm was operating as a commercial use in a residential zone.

Building Inspector Jim Buckles upheld the complaint after an inspection of the property. Wellspring Farm owners Jim and Holly Vogel were forced to seek a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals in order to continue operating commercially.

The permit was issued under the condition that the Vogels receive site plan review approval from the Planning Board, which, after months of meetings, they did.

However, Mendoza appealed the Planning Board’s approval of the site plan review to the Zoning Board of Appeals, citing the noise from the property as an ongoing problem.

“The reason I appealed is because of an outstanding issue, and that would be the noise,” she said. “It was something we discussed repeatedly throughout the hearings, and I’m not comfortable that it has been adequately addressed.”

Part of the requirements in the Planning Board’s agreement with Wellspring Farm was that the farm must comply with the state noise regulations. Mendoza doesn’t believe that the regulations are actually being followed at the farm, which borders her home. “There are lots of car doors slamming, car alarms being set and unset, cars laying on horns,” she said. “There are individuals and clinicians talking with loud voices. I clearly heard a clinician address a kid by name.”

However, Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Richard Cutler clarified that the only thing the board could rule on was whether or not the Planning Board had not done their job correctly.

If there were operational or enforcement issues, they must be addressed with the Planning Board, who are in charge of such matters.

“We have to decide if the Planning Board operated correctly,” he said. “That’s the issue.”

Attorney George Boerger, representing the Vogels, stated that he vehemently disagreed with Mendoza’s claims and that there was no reason to believe the site plan review done by the Planning Board wasn’t valid.

“There is no basis to overturn [the decision],” Boerger said. “To the extent that there’s an issue with the noise, there’s a proper channel to address that and I don’t think this is it.”

Planning Board Chair Arnie Johnson was present at the meeting. He said that there was a provision in Wellspring’s site plan review which stated that the Planning Board would review the conditions after six months and reserved the right to modify any conditions that were not working out.

Zoning Board of Appeals members agreed that the noise complaints were an issue that should be taken up with the Planning Board.

“I don’t see anything before me that suggests the Planning Board screwed up,” Zoning Board member Kirby Gilmore said. “If there are outstanding issues, then talk to the Planning Board, because it’s outside of anything we can do.”

Ultimately, the board decided to continue the hearing until the Dec. 28 meeting to have more time to look over documents submitted.