The construction company operating at the medical campus will be allowed to begin working as early as 8 a.m. on Saturdays.
The Wrangell Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission approved the extra weekend work hours at its meeting March 8, after receiving an application for a noise variance from Ketchikan Ready Mix and Quarry Inc.
The construction company is building a new clinic for Alaska Island Community Services (AICS) at the medical campus on Wood Street behind the Mini Mart. The site is also where the new hospital is set to be built.
Under the city’s noise ordinance, Ketchikan Ready Mix is allowed to work 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. The company applied for a variance to that ordinance, asking to begin work at 8 a.m. on weekends and holidays that fall on a Monday.
Any “blasting activities” by the construction company at the work site would not occur any earlier than 10 a.m. on weekends in consideration of nearby residents, according to a letter Ketchikan Ready Mix sent to the city late last month.
Several residents who live near the construction site came to the P&Z meeting last week. Two of them spoke in strong opposition to allowing Ketchikan Ready Mix to work any earlier than 10 a.m. on weekends, as the construction work is loud and disruptive.
Andrew Hoyt lives on Ash Street and said his house sits approximately 100 feet from the construction site.
“It’s pretty loud there, and my concern is the noise,” he said.
Tracey Davidson, another nearby resident, was “extremely, extremely” opposed to the idea of allowing construction to occur earlier than 10 a.m. on the weekends. She said the construction work causes her house to shake and the noise is inescapable.
“It’s so close, and so loud it’s unbelievable,” Davidson said.
One nearby resident did speak in favor of the P&Z allowing the construction company to work the extra hours on weekends.
James Nelson, who lives down the road from the medical campus on Lemieux Street, said his family has not been disturbed by construction noise.
Ketchikan Ready Mix is set to complete its work by the end of June. Because of that deadline, Nelson said the city should allow the company to operate as many hours as necessary to finish the project.
P&Z member Betty Keegan said the commission was in a tough spot, as whatever decision the commission made at the meeting, it would negatively affect someone.
“No matter what we do in life, no matter what is done, it is a negative problem for someone,” she said.
Out of the “many homes” in the neighborhood near the medical campus, Keegan said the P&Z had not received any petition from residents against Ketchikan Ready Mix’s noise variance application. And, only two residents came to the P&Z meeting to speak against the application, Keegan added.
“We’ve got to weigh what is the greatest benefit, and it’s a difficult decision to make,” she said. “But it seems to me that, unfortunately, the greatest benefit would be to allow the contractor [those] extra two hours on Saturday and Sunday.”
P&Z member Stanley Schnell said while he feels for the people the construction is causing harm to, there is no way to avoid that disturbance now that the construction projects at the medical campus have been approved.
“I’m sorry for the people, but I think we need to move forward with it and give [Ketchikan Ready Mix] the time,” Schnell said.
P&Z voted in favor four-to-one to allow Ketchikan Ready Mix to begin working early at 8 a.m. on Saturdays.
The commission’s motion does not, however, allow for work to begin any earlier than 10 a.m. on Sundays or Monday holidays, as the construction company had requested.
Of the P&Z members present, Chair John Taylor was the sole member to vote against the commission’s motion.
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