Earlier this week, MoreThanTheCurve.com received an email that was sent to various elected officials, other government officials, and residents regarding the early morning work taking place along Ridge Pike in Whitemarsh and Springfield Townships. Montgomery County is currently making improvements along the county-owned road between Philadelphia and Norristown.
The email asked who permitted work on the road to start as early as 5:00 a.m. on weekdays and weekends. The sender of the email then stated it was “disruptive to those who live in the area.”
We then received an email from the construction management company JBC Associates, which is overseeing the project on behalf of the county.
The County was recently notified by a resident that subcontractors to Allan Myers have been starting at 5:00 AM on weekdays and Saturdays. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Contractually we cannot stop the contractor from starting this early, however, we have requested that they don’t begin before 6:00 AM. For the most part, the contractor has complied with this request. Recently, they have had to begin work between 5:00 AM and 6:00 AM to prep driveways for establishments on Ridge Pike, specifically Holod’s and Congregation Or Ami. Preparations cannot be completed the day before or else the driveways would have to be closed overnight. Wednesday should be the last day Allan Myers will need to perform early morning prep work. Moving forward, if operations are to begin before 6:00 AM, we have asked Allan Myers to give us sufficient notice in order to send out a notification email to residents. This project will be wrapping up shortly and the project team asks for everyone’s continued patience for the next 6-8 weeks, but should an issue arise that you feel needs to be addressed feel free to reach out to the project directly at Ridgepikeconstruction@gmail.com or call 484-534-8188.
We asked JBC if this early work violated local noise ordinances. We did not receive a response.
Whitemarsh Township’s code prohibits “Operating or causing to be operated any motorized or powered equipment used outdoors in commercial construction, repair, alteration or demolition work on buildings, structures, streets, alleys or appurtenances thereto in any land use category so as to cause a noise disturbance as follows: between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. the following day, except that construction noise shall be prohibited before 9:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays and shall be prohibited during all hours on Sundays.”
However, this ordinance does not apply to this type of work, shared Chief of Police Christopher Ward, stating, “Just like PECO, Aqua, and other utilities, we cannot enforce the Noise Ordinance for Public Utility work that ‘needs’ to be done. They can and have worked overnight shifts to advance this project, as they do on other road projects. (Paving is often done at night.) Their work permits, [and] occupancy permits, outweigh the Noise Ordinance in these situations.”
Ward stressed that those overseeing the work have worked with the township regarding scheduling but noted that it doesn’t always work out how everyone wants.