New Brunswick·NewPeople living in the Covered Bridge chip plant in western New Brunswick have complained of smells, around-the-clock noise from production, and the removal of a five-metre buffer of mature trees. Company will have to restore a buffer zone it removed while expanding the factorySilas Brown · CBC News · Posted: Oct 29, 2025 3:38 PM EDT | Last Updated: 17 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 6 minutesCovered Bridge Potato Chips’ factory in Woodstock has become a point of concern for some nearby homes in the western New Brunswick community. (Silas Brown/CBC)Woodstock council says Covered Bridge Potato Chips will have to restore a buffer zone the company removed between its new plant and the adjoining neighbourhood. People living near the plant have complained of smells, around the clock noise from production and the removal of a five-metre buffer of mature trees. The plant has replaced the old Covered Bridge factory in nearby Waterville that burned down last year. Woodstock Mayor Trina Jones said during a council meeting that the town is working with the company to find a solution to restore a bylaw-mandated buffer, which could include landscaping and a noise fence. “My understanding is that the Covered Bridge chip group is willing to look at what options might satisfy the community,” she said. “I think we have to give this every effort to be successful before any drastic measures would be suggested or taken.“We’ve got to try and work on a solution here and see if we can’t find a [solution] and make sure that they are indeed in compliance.”Woodstock Mayor Trina Jones says the town will work to find a solution for the community concerns. (Silas Brown/CBC)Joanna Harrison, who lives on a nearby street, made a presentation to council on Tuesday night about what it’s like living in the shadow of the new potato chip plant. After the meeting Harrison said she feels that her concerns were heard. “I did appreciate the council making some suggestions and acknowledging that probably some consultation needs to happen on what would be the best to benefit both the business and the residents as well,” she said.Covered Bridge’s original location burned down in March 2024, prompting the company to turn a warehouse they already owned in Woodstock into a makeshift seasoning plant, using chips fried in a number of different factories. This summer, after the installation of three chip fryers, the Charles Street location became the company’s permanent factory. Covered Bridge has yet to announce any plans for the site of the old factory.Owner Ryan Albright told CBC News in August 2024 that the seasoning plant was a temporary fix while the company decided where it could rebuild. But in July, neighbours began noticing the smell of frying potato chips and around-the-clock production noise. WATCH | ‘It’s obtrusive, it makes loud noises, it has an odour’:Woodstock promises solution to Covered Bridge factory woesThe new Covered Bridge Potato Chips factory in Woodstock is proving worrisome for nearby homes, but the town says the company is committed to restoring a buffer Following a domestic assault charge against Albright in Maine, the company announced last October that he would be taking an extended leave of absence “in light of recent personal health challenges.”The charge was dropped this month and the company did not respond at the time to questions from CBC News about Alrbright’s status at Covered Bridge.Gordon Porter, who has lived on Henry street for 50 years, said he understands that his home is adjacent to the town’s industrial park, but he’s found none of the businesses in the area have created the same disruptions. “It’s obtrusive, it makes loud noises, it has an odour,” he said. “There’s just a lot of negative things happening as a consequence of this plant being placed right in proximity to homes.”Brook Dickinson, the company’s executive vice-president, said in a statement that the company is committed to addressing those concerns.“We want to assure our neighbours and the wider community that we take these concerns seriously,” he said.“From the beginning, we have operated in full compliance with all applicable town and regulatory requirements and remain committed to acting responsibly. We have taken steps to minimize potential impacts and will continue to evaluate additional measures as needed.”In a presentation Tuesday, town CAO Allan Walker told Woodstock councillors and the assembled two dozen community members that the company first applied for a zoning bylaw amendment to allow food processing in 2024, which was approved by council in August of that year. Woodstock CAO Allan Walker says Covered Bridge was warned by the town after it removed the bylaw-mandated buffer. (Silas Brown/CBC)In the spring, excavation work done for the expansion resulted in the removal of the trees in the required five-metre buffer. Town staff directed the company to re-establish the buffer and to move fuel tanks that were encroaching on it. According to the town, the province’s Department of Environment hasn’t reported any violations of air quality or industrial noise regulations to date. On Tuesday night, council directed town staff to review the bylaws governing the buffer zone and noise coming from the industrial park to better protect against similar situations in the future. Susan Ryan, who lives on Henry Street, said the loss of the buffer is one of the community’s largest concerns. “There are different bylaws in place to protect the residents when an industrial park abuts on a residential area, and one of those is it has to provide a buffer zone,” she said.“We’ve had a buffer zone there for years. It was beautiful, big mature trees, lots of plants. The neighbourhood girls used to play in there … it was a lovely buffer zone. It’s been taken down. They have to have that in place.”Ryan and some others in the area would like to see the plant moved, but Walker warned council that forcing a move could open up the town to legal action.During her presentation to council, Harrison pointed to the town’s 2020 municipal plan that said it would transition the existing industrial park into a business park with lighter industrial uses. Porter said he worries the plant simply isn’t suitable for where it is.“There’s so much land between the Charles Street location of the plant and the Trans-Canada up the hill, far away from people where they live … and would have very little effect on people if it had been located somewhere else,” he said.“We’ve been happy to see the progress and the success of the Covered Bridge Potato Chip plant over the years. It’s a source of pride in Carleton County, and we would continue to have that if it was located in a place that didn’t have the negative effect on our homes, on our families and on our life.”ABOUT THE AUTHORSilas Brown is a Fredericton-based video journalist. You can reach him at silas.brown@cbc.ca.
Woodstock working with Covered Bridge Potato Chips to address community concerns over new location
