To the Editor:
I live on Canyon Street near Highway 21, where an empty lot is used by Maglio Installations as a dump site for the intersection project at Northwest Boulevard and Pine Street. Since the project began, myself and other residents in the neighborhood have had to listen to excessive noise coming from this lot.
Each day there are dump trucks, water trucks, loaders and other heavy equipment traveling to and from the lot via Canyon street, sometimes upwards of 20 times per hour. When the vehicles reach the worksite, they back into the lot, emitting a loud beeping sound, often several at a time.
This might not sound like a big deal, and it wouldn’t be if this only lasted a couple of days or a couple of weeks. However, this has already been going on for months, and it’s not scheduled to stop until the end of June.
According to WorkSafeBC, all equipment backing up at a work site must provide “a signal to people in the vicinity that, if practicable, is audible above the ambient noise level in the workplace where the equipment is being used.”
The problem is, you can hear the beeping for at least a mile radius around the worksite, affecting dozens of homes in the community.
When I spoke to a representative at Maglio Installations, he informed me that they are using the lot at 101 Canyon St. because it’s close to the intersection and it’s the cheapest.
While this may be the case, it seems that the residents of Creston have been ignored when planning this project. I work from home, and the constant noise from this work site has cost me work, sleep and money.
The contractors aren’t breaking any laws or bylaws; however, I believe they have a moral obligation to consider the people who are impacted by a project of this duration. The obvious solution is to move the worksite away from heavily populated areas to minimize the impact on residents.
I will be bringing this issue to Mayor Ron Toyota in order to discuss our options, and hopefully prevent this from happening again. If you have been affected negatively by this worksite or other noise pollution, I urge you to write letters or to speak to the local government.
Josh Heisie
Creston