Take a Poll About Central's Construction-Related Noise Ordinance
Plus: Sewer Capacity, Redesigning the Town's Website, and More About CEPSCI
Let’s say it’s 7 on a Sunday morning. While making a pot of coffee, you notice your next-door neighbor is already hard at work outside, taking advantage of the cooler weather, to make some progress on the deck he’s building. Every few minutes comes the “thwack-thwack-thwack” as hammer meets nail.
What would you do?
That’s not a rhetorical question. I’m generally curious. How would you handle that? Maybe it wouldn’t bother you. Maybe it would, but you would just let it go. Maybe it would, and you would step outside and kindly ask him to give it a rest.
The reason I’m asking is that at Council’s public work session on Monday night, our Town Administration pointed out that we have an ordinance on the books—Article III, Section 11-49, to be exact—that addresses construction-related noise. More specifically, it prohibits any construction work on weekdays between the hours of 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. and at all hours on the weekend. That way, people in Town don’t have to listen to construction noise in the evenings or on the weekends.
Here are a few more questions: do you feel as if the ordinance limits your ability to work on your own home? If so, should the ordinance be amended to allow you, for example, to work on your deck on a Saturday or Sunday—knowing, of course, that it would also allow housing-development construction on the weekends, too?
Council talked about some of these scenarios Monday night, including the fact that it is difficult for the Town to police construction-related noise (which is a problem other municipalities have encountered, too.) Also, we heard from a few residents who don’t want to see the hours expanded.
What do you think? Should Council leave the ordinance as-is? Should Council expand the hours and days during which construction can take place? Should Council do something else? Let me know by taking the poll below and I’ll share it with other members of Council. I’ll leave the poll open for a week so that everyone has ample time to weigh in.
(Even better? I hope you’ll shoot me an email with your thoughts. You can reach me at abeckner@cityofcentral.org.)
In addition to construction-relate noise, here are some of the other items we discussed Monday night:
Thirty years ago, when the Town purchased sewer capacity from Pickens County, residential and business growth in our community wasn’t as robust as it is these days. It was thought, at the time, that we wouldn’t have to expand capacity for many, many years. But things have changed. Not only has our community grown rapidly in the last few years, but more is on the way. That’s why Council and the Town Administration is exploring ways to expand our sewer capacity and keep pace with our current rate of growth.
Creating a website from scratch is difficult enough. Re-doing a site—especially one that deals with public records and citizen services—is even more so. Still, I think it’s time to give our Town website a new look and feel. To get it done, I’m working with a company that specializes in re-designing municipal websites. Once I have a better idea of what they can do—and how much it’s going to cost—I will bring to Council a proposal for an all-new CityOfCentral.com. Stay tuned.
As you may recall from last week’s newsletter, next Monday night Council will take a final vote (second reading) on an ordinance to authorize our Certified Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control Inspector (CEPSCI) program. We’re going to make that ordinance even stronger. In addition to the provisions we talked about last week, we’re adding a new one: requiring that developers and their contractors remove any silt fences they’ve put up within 30 days after construction is completed. Again, that vote will take place during our regular Council meeting this Monday night, August 8, beginning at 7 p.m. More good news!
Finally, as a reminder, please make plans to visit the Bee’s Knees Toys and Books at a ribbon-cutting ceremony this Saturday at noon. We hope to see you there.
Thanks for reading (and don’t forget to email me your thoughts on the construction-related noise ordinance.)
RE: Construction noise, I think we could add Saturday, same hours - but leave Sunday alone.
RE: Sewer Capacity - This day was coming, but those new neighborhoods that the developers put in - the developers need to pay substantial fees for the sewer to be built and capacity arranged, instead of burdening the others, many of which are on fixed incomes.
Good for the website re-do and requiring contractors/developers to be responsible for removing their erosion control.
So glad you are here!