Aquarion Water Company wants an extension to the 90 day window the Board of Selectmen previously approved for a water main replacement project on Greenwich Ave.
The project is to replace aging water infrastructure under the roadway to prevent failures.
The hours that Dept of Public Works and the Selectmen approved for the project are 10:00 pm until 10:00am, Sundays through Fridays.
The project kicked off a month ago on Feb 12.
At a dial-in public information meeting just before the project commenced, Donald Snyder from Snyder Civil Engineering, said, “We understand this will be a burden to residents and we sincerely apologize.”
“Yes, you may have gotten a few complaints, but it has impacted all of us on Greenwich Avenue. Unless you’re living there and seeing what’s going on at night, you can’t even comprehend what we’re going through.” – Theresa Santos, Greenwich Ave resident
At Thursday’s Selectmen meeting, Democratic board member Janet Stone McGuigan reminded the board their initial reason for a 90 day window had been to give an opportunity for feedback.
“We didn’t want to give a carte blanche approval, so it is working the way we wanted it to work,” she said. “We have had some feedback about night time noise and lights.”
Setting up for night time Aquarion water main replacement work on Greenwich Ave. March 14, 2024
Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo said businesses on Greenwich Avenue would be impacted if Aquarion work on water mains was done during the daytime. Outdoor dining season starts in April.
Ken Petrini a project manager from Snyder Civil Engineering, specialists in water infrastructure, represented Aquarion at the Selectmen meeting.
He said ideally Aquarion would like to replace all the aging water infrastructure under Greenwich Ave from Rte 1 to Railroad Ave, but given the time frame the town approved, they identified the most risk-prone areas to move forward with.
First Selectman Camillo said he was aware of two complaints about noise from the night time work.
“It’s going to be worse in the summer with the windows open and with outdoor dining,” he said. “There’s a lot going on in the summer on the Ave – the store owners, the tenants and the people who live there – the quality of life, but also it’s prime time for business.”
“Anything you can do to get the job done in the right way, but to get it done in the most efficient, effective and timely fashion would be appreciated because we’re getting into the busy season now and we were hoping it would be done in the first 90 day period,” Camillo said to Mr. Petrini.
Republican Selectwoman Lauren Rabin said, “Some of the feedback we received was, why was it all being done at night? Is there a balance? You had mentioned multiple crews in multiple shifts,” she said. “How do we spread the impact?”
Mr. Petrini said his team was willing to re-evaluate hours of operation and that they would gladly talk with Greenwich Dept of Public Works about working outside the overnight hours.
“If you do it during the day you disrupt the businesses and it becomes a bigger problem,” Camillo said. “But we’re trying to look out for the (residents) at night too, and to keep repeating, we’re heading into the summer season – the biggest season for the merchants and windows are open, and for people who live there, and people visit there, the quality of life factor comes into play.”
The first 90 day window built in a hard-stop in mid-April.
If approved, an extension of 90 additional days would bring the project forward to mid-July.
Theresa Santos said the night work, which is being performed 10pm to 10am on weekday nights was “unbearable.” Screenshot via Zoom
Greenwich Ave resident Theresa Santos said she spoke for other residents on Greenwich Ave when she described how their quality of life was impacted by the night work, and asked if some of the work could be done during the day.
“Yes, you may have gotten a few complaints, but it has impacted all of us on Greenwich Avenue. Unless you’re living there and seeing what’s going on at night, you can’t even comprehend what we’re going through,” Ms Santos said.
“The trucks, the heavy equipment. We’re all working professionals who go to work, but a lot of people are experiencing headaches and lack of sleep because it’s literally underneath our windows.”
“It is very impactful to our health,” Santos continued, adding that one of her neighbors was considering renting an AirBnB. “I had even looked at a hotel one night. It’s unbearable.”
She added that due to the work, her toilet had been covered in dirt and when she turned on her shower dirt poured through.
Ms Santos said she had worked at the Apple store for 14 years, but repeated several times that she was not speaking on their behalf when she described Apple as an anchor store and suggested there would “not be a huge impact” to small businesses if the work was done during the day.
Mr. Camillo pushed back.
“You may think smaller businesses are not as impactful, but for those people that is their living,” he said. “We stand by them, and stand up for them. Small businesses make up the towns, and it makes up the state and the country.”
“Any business is going to be impacted during the day,” he added.
Ms Rabin asked, “Is there an opportunity to balance it? Maybe there’s one day a week that (the work is performed) during the day.”
“We’ve all gone through this,” Camillo said. “It’s painful to hear this stuff at night but we’ve all gone through it. The good thing is it’s not going to last forever.”
The proposal for an extension was a first read.
There is another meeting in March where the Selectmen can have a second read and potential vote on the proposed extension.
See also:
Greenwich Ave Water Main Replacement to Begin Monday: Expect Delays, Detours Feb 11, 2024
