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Posted Aug 7, 2013, 12:47 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 405
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A sensory torture chamber.  Good Lord.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa...od+Avenue+living+hell/8750443/story.html
Quote:
OTTAWA — Holmwood Avenue resident Dennis Brock says he and his neighbours are experiencing a sensory torture chamber as near constant construction across the street at Lansdowne Park enters a second year of an estimated four-year project.
“It’s horrible, but there’s not much we can do. It’s noisy, it’s dusty, it’s intrusive. It’s your worst nightmare in terms of living in a neighbourhood,” said Brock, who has lived on Holmwood with his wife, Darlene, for 10 years,
About 30 houses are located a street-width away from Lansdowne Park on the stretch of Holmwood east of Bank Street. An approximately three-metre construction hoarding covered in paintings and graffiti has been the only barrier for residents facing the construction site since work began in early June last year.
The hoarding provides no relief for Holmwood residents from a “living hell” of unrelenting noise, dust, vibrations and smells, said Brock’s neighbour, Robert Martin. He said he and his partner, Danica Robertson, have been notifying Marco Manconi, the City if Ottawa’s manager, design and construction — Lansdowne, about work continuing outside of bylaw-approved hours once or twice a week for six or eight months, but receive only “patronizing, paternalistic pats on the head” in response.
“There are many cases where what the city says and what the contractor does are completely divergent and, it seems at times, the contractors are going ahead with what they need to regardless of noise bylaws,” said Martin.
In March, an amendment to the bylaw that deals with the rezoning of Lansdowne Park allowed contractors to continue work on concrete-related activities until 1 a.m. during the week until the project is complete. A limited amount of 24-hour continuous concrete pours during the week were also exempted, left to the discretion of the general manager of infrastructure services Wayne Newell. All other work must be done during regular construction hours, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. If bylaw hours are not obeyed, contractors could face a daily fine of up to $10,000.
Martin said contractors are using the bylaw exemption to deviate from construction hours. The noise, he said, is worse before 7 a.m. than at night, with power tools, the beeping of reversing trucks and leaf blowers having started as early as 5 a.m. In an email response after Martin complained about noise beginning at 6:10 a.m. in January, Manconi admitted the contractors had crews and equipment starting early on the parking garage construction but said he had “asked that all crews respect the noise bylaws and not start work before 7 a.m. I will continue to monitor the compliance to the bylaw requirements in order to reduce the disruption to neighbours.”
In an email to the Citizen, Manconi said Bylaw and Regulatory Services has received four complaints related to alleged construction noise at Lansdowne Park since January. One of the complaints was lodged outside service hours; the contractor was notified and ceased activity immediately, Manconi said.
The city, he said, is trying to improve construction activity and minimize disruption by bringing in quieter equipment, placing louder equipment away from residential areas, restricting deliveries outside of normal construction hours and staging work to reduce truck traffic.
“The City project team is working closely with the contractor on the issue of disruptions to residents at Lansdowne. The City is committed to being a good construction neighbour. Full time city staff works on-location every day to ensure construction is being actively monitored and that communication with the local community remains open, constant and predictable,” Manconi wrote.
Despite the city’s assurances, Martin said the noise continues. Notifications about upcoming work aren’t much better, he said; a flyer from the city telling residents about the first of three continuous concrete pours on April 19 vaguely read, “Set up and concrete pouring activities will begin in the early morning hours on Friday with work continuing throughout the day and wrapping up at approximately 11:30 p.m. that night.”
Martin said he was surprised to be woken up by the pour at 2 a.m., only to return from work that evening to an empty site.
“We were woken up at two in the morning and the contractor was done by 3 p.m. so it begs the question why couldn’t they have just started at regular work hours and worked until nine or 10 at night? It just goes on and on. It’s one of those don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness situations,” said Martin.
Capital Ward Coun. David Chernushenko, who cast the lone vote against the bylaw exemption in solidarity with the Glebe’s residents, said he has received complaints about noise since the construction began, and is pushing managers from the city and contractors to take steps to minimize the noise and respect the bylaws. Chernushenko said he is not aware of work being done after bylaw hours but wouldn’t contradict a report from someone who observed it.
“If there’s any sense that the main contractor or a subcontractor is repeatedly doing that and seems to be flouting the bylaw then I would certainly want to know and I would want the city to be fining them.”
Whether or not the city is listening, said a third Holmwood Avenue resident, Larry Gauthier, nothing is changing. Gauthier said people on the street have resigned themselves to the development, but a lack of response to ongoing complaints about the invasive, in-your-face construction is making residents feel invisible.
“We do have a right to some sort of decent quality of life and we can’t have this for up to four years. I just don’t see the fairness there. I know life is full of compromises, but this is way beyond it.”
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