Another Code for Contractors to Break
When it comes to quality of life complaints in New York City, according to Charles Sturcken, a spokesman for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, “construction ranks top in every borough.” This should surprise no one. Especially our neighbors, who had to endure our incompetent plumbers knocking a pile of bricks down their…
When it comes to quality of life complaints in New York City, according to Charles Sturcken, a spokesman for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, “construction ranks top in every borough.” This should surprise no one. Especially our neighbors, who had to endure our incompetent plumbers knocking a pile of bricks down their chimney and into their toddler’s bedroom. Until now, as long as work was being done between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. on a weekday and 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekends, there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot you could do to stop a loud hammer or saw across the street from ruining your day. Starting July 1, though, construction noise must not exceed ten decibels above ambient sound — about the equivalent of a large truck rumbling down the street. To comply, contractors are going to have to use such tricks of the trade as mufflers for jackhammers, for example, or blankets for compressors. If they comply, that is. We’re sure the city will continue the crack enforcement job it’s been doing on construction sites in recent years.
Make Nice to the Neighbors [NY Times]
Photo by Peter Wynn Thompson for the New York Times
Anon on Nov. 13: your posting is idiotic. Complaining about construction noise takin place, for example, on weekends and at night is not “overly sensitive” and has nothing to do with “yuppies”. Just because you’re making more money than you should in the construction business doesn’t mean people aren’t entitled to complain when construction work is done in violation of city rules, as is often the case. Such conduct does constitute “truly problematic construction practices”.
The new code has plenty of wiggle room for construction companies. First, contractors could get a “pass” if strict compliance with such rules would be unreasonable or unduly burdensome. Public works, like road repairs using jackhammers would also get a pass if DEP determines that it costs to much to lower sound levels. Most of your 1 and 2 family interior renovation/alteration work would not be affected. It’s those large air compressors that the city is targeting. And then all it means for contractors is to throw a noise supression blanket over the motor.
Once again the term yuppie is thrown at anyone who complains about anything. The needs of developers are always going to be to at odds with people in the surrounding neighborhood. As someone who will be living across from a construction site for a least a year, I appreciate that they have to knock off at night and on weekends, and have to wait until 7 AM to begin. They will still make a pretty penny with their condos when all is said and done. PS: As if DOB really checks into all the calls! Of course serious violations come first.
How is this a good thing? Just raises the cost of construction, and creates another thing for the yuppies to call DOB about. If you want DOB to do something about truly problematic construction practices (the kind that end up with people dead and injured) you can’t have them all tied up with noise complaints from overly sensitive neighbors who can’t bear the thought that there is going to be construction in the house next door that has not been touched in a 100 years.
As I recall, you need a special permit to do work on weekends. I could be wrong about that, but that’s what I heard from DOB once when I called. 7-6 weekdays is the general rule.