Work crews are disrupting a Mission Valley neighborhood, using jackhammers, trucks and other heavy equipment all night along on Friars Road at Mission Center Road.
“It is so loud and so obnoxious,” said Ryan Crouch, who lives in the Westpark apartments on the north side of Friars Road. “I mean, it literally sounds like the jackhammer is in our apartment.”
Crouch said the work started late Monday night and continued uninterrupted until dawn Tuesday. Work resumed Tuesday night, and again continued into Wednesday morning. Crouch said his girlfriend is a light sleeper, who got literally no rest Monday night. He said he managed to get about two hours of fitful sleep.
“It’s from 10 pm to 5 am, which is just ludicrous to me. I just don’t see how that’s even legal,” Crouch said.
But it is legal, and properly permitted. HD Communications has a city of San Diego Noise Control Permit which allows the company to use “construction equipment and vehicles” to dig trenches for wireless equipment on that stretch of Friars Road, just east of Mission Center Road. The permit allows the company to work from 9 pm to 5 am, January 22nd to 29th.
Crouch lives on the fifth floor in one of the Westpark buildings along the north side of Friars Road. Dozens of other tenants are also exposed to the noise in those Westpark buildings. Even more residents live in apartments just south of Friars Road, even closer to the trenching work.
A resident in the Park Villas North condo project said the trenching work has also kept her and her husband up at night. She told NBC 7 that at least two of her neighbors have also complained about the disruption.
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Crouch argues that the trenching can just as easily be done during daylight. He says day traffic on that stretch of Friars Road isn’t too busy to interfere with work crews.
But a spokesperson for HD Communications disagrees. The company apologized for the noise but said it is too difficult and expensive to do the work in daytime traffic.
A spokesman for the city said the permit for night work was issued only after city employees confirmed that day work would be too disruptive to traffic flows.
"Put up a sign on the street or something," Park Villas North resident Valerie Mendis said. "'We're going to make some noise.' It would have been a little more tolerable."
HD Communications said its work will continue through Sunday, and require one more day of work next month to finish the project.
Even with a permit, police can stop night-time construction work, if the noise and disruption is “detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the public.”
Crouch said he did call police to complain about the non-stop noise. But he had to leave a voicemail because he wasn’t making an emergency call. Crouch said he hasn’t heard back from police. He also contacted his city council representative.
