The District of Sechelt and the company building a $25-million wastewater treatment plant on Ebbtide Street held a short-notice meeting Wednesday evening to answer residents' concerns about vibrations, noise and other construction issues.
"The excavation work will be virtually wrapped up by the end of next week," Maple Reinders' site supervisor Dave Zwaagstra assured about 25 residents who filled the District's multi-purpose room July 10.
"I'm sorry, folks. This is construction," Zwaagstra said. "We'll do our level best to manage disruption, but the heavy equipment will basically be over by the end of next week."
The meeting was called after residents started complaining about vibrations caused by compaction on the site, and the possible damage to homes as a result.
"Who's going to be responsible for the damage, because I have damage in my house already?" Surf Circle resident George Goudie asked at the meeting.
Paul Nash, the District's project coordinator, said residents should document any damage and contact him at the District office.
When Goudie and other residents questioned the site location, the officials deferred those questions to a technical review session scheduled for Tuesday, July 16, at Seaside Centre, where project engineers will be present.
"I can assure you there is a technical answer to that question," Maple Reinders' project manager Cam Morris said. "It will be answered Tuesday night."
While the compaction "will essentially be done at the end of this week," Zwaagstra said, more is expected later in the year.
"There will be a significant amount of compaction that will take place at that particular time, and that will take about a week," he said.
Construction on the plant will go on "for the majority of next year," Morris said.
"We're scheduled to complete in November 2014. For people living around the facility there will be a certain amount of noise and disruption, and we'll try to keep that down to a minimum," Morris said. "We do expect that the construction will be at its loudest in the first stage while we're doing concrete work, doing site work, but as we get the building closed in, we're hoping that will be minimized, as the walls will contain it inside the building."
Several residents raised the issue of noise, and some jeered when Zwaagstra compared the noise level to the sound made by a loaded dump truck travelling down the street.
"You don't know what it's like in our houses," one woman said.
Surf Circle resident Sage Debell asked if the construction could start an hour later, at 8 a.m., and end an hour earlier, at 5 p.m.
"We wake up with noise. All day, all day we are listening to noise. We are eating our dinners with noise. The whole day is complete noise," Debell said.
No concessions were made on hours of work, however.
"Unfortunately we're going to have to live with this," Zwaagstra said.
Notices for the meeting were hand-delivered Tuesday night to area residents.
"It was very short notice because the idea of vibration popped up on very short notice," Nash said.
Tuesday's technical review session at Seaside Centre runs from 7 to 9 p.m.
