LRT night construction noise is ‘an outrage,’ Richmond Road condo residents say

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Residents of a Richmond Road condominium say they can’t understand why LRT construction work is being allowed to continue until 4 a.m. with an exemption from the city’s noise bylaw.

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Excavated material, stockpiled on the LRT construction site on Richmond Road near the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, was loaded onto dump trucks and hauled away during the night over the past two weeks.

According to the construction consortium, Kiewit and Vinci, the work was done at night to ensure it didn’t interfere with crews on site during the day.

The City of Ottawa granted the consortium an exemption from its noise bylaw, which normally prohibits the operation of construction vehicles and equipment between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

“We are currently working day and night at many sites across the project alignment, including Lincoln Fields,” said Jamie Robinson, director of communications and stakeholder engagement for the consortium.

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Night work is needed, he said in an email, “to accommodate work that cannot be done during and day and for works that are required to meet the schedule of this large and complex project.”

The city’s noise bylaw gives the director of bylaw and regulatory services the power to issue noise exemptions for city construction projects.

I don’t know how it’s happened that they’ve been able to override all of the city’s noise ordinances to do this work. That’s a slap in the face to everybody who lives here.

Huston Eubank, resident of Richmond Road building

Roger Chapman said he had issued two noise exemptions this year for LRT Phase 2 construction, both in Bay Ward. The second of those exemptions is currently in place and allows construction work to take place between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. until June 30.

The exemption requires that local residents be notified of overnight work at least five days in advance, Chapman said, and that noise levels not exceed 85 decibels.

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Bay Ward Councillor Theresa Kavanagh said the exemptions had been issued in recognition of the importance of the Stage 2 LRT project.

“I can understand this has not been easy for residents living near this major construction project from Westboro to Moodie Drive,” Kavanagh said. “My ward is highly impacted since the work is happening in established neighbourhoods, unlike the other Stage 2 LRT line extensions to the east and south.”

Residents of Richmond Road say they can’t understand why the city has granted bylaw exemptions to the company building the LRT, which allows them to operate construction equipment until 4 a.m.

Kavanagh has asked the city to limit noise exemptions to “more impactful” work.

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Meanwhile, residents of the building at 1190 Richmond Rd. say they’ve paid with their health for the city’s LRT construction being behind schedule.

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Katherine Addleman, president of the condominium’s board of directors, described the overnight construction noise as “unbearable, completely unbearable.”

I was afraid I was going to have a stroke, I was so angry.

Katherine Addleman, president of Richmond Road condominium board of directors

The intermittent sound of rock crashing into dump trucks made sleep impossible, Addleman said. “You doze off, then 10 minutes later a new truck arrives, and it slams back at you. It has been three or four nights a week for several weeks,” Addleman said, “and most of us would not be able to sleep until 4 a.m., when they would finally stop.”

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Residents tried earplugs, white noise and burying themselves in pillows, but nothing could drown out the sound. She called the nighttime work “an outrage.”

“I was afraid I was going to have a stroke, I was so angry,” Addleman said.

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The nighttime construction noise stopped this week outside the Richmond Road condominium.

“We’re upset at the way they treated us,” said Huston Eubank, a retired architect. “They’re trying to make up for lost time at the expense of everybody here.”

Eubank’s wife recorded the construction work one night since she was unable to sleep. The video shows a large excavator, working from atop a debris pile, scraping and loading rock and rubble into dump trucks.

Watch the video:

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The work is only a stone’s throw from the Richmond Road condominium. The new LRT line will pass within two metres of the building’s underground parking garage.

“I think this whole thing was really badly planned,” Eubank said. “I don’t know how it’s happened that they’ve been able to override all of the city’s noise ordinances to do this work. That’s a slap in the face to everybody who lives here.”

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Michael Morgan, director of the city’s rail construction program, said the city and its contractors were trying to minimize disruptions caused by night work. That work is sometimes necessary, he said, to manage traffic impacts, to coordinate complex activity and to maintain the project schedule.

“While construction activities can at times be disruptive, the city and its contractors thank residents for their ongoing patience as we work to extend the O-Train system farther west,” Morgan said, adding: “The ability to leverage night work, while respecting the neighbourhoods where the project team is working, is a key tool to advance the project.”

The Confederation Line West project is expected to be finished in late 2026; it will add 15 kilometres of rail and 11 rapid transit stations to the LRT system.

The Stage 2 extension, which goes west from Tunney’s Pasture to Baseline Road and Moodie Drive, is 17 months behind schedule.

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