Residents Say Sunday Shouldn't Be A Working Day

A section of Vienna's noise ordinance is still on the table after its third public hearing last night, as the dozen or more residents who came to speak to Town Council made one thing clear: they don't want contractors working on Sunday, regardless of the time.

"We talk about how we want to have a small-town community, that sense of peace, solitude and serenity that we all want to have when we come home at the end of a long day or long night working," resident Patricia Toler told the Council. "Noise knows no boundaries."

"Having that one day of quiet to enjoy our property is very important to myself and the residents of Vienna," resident Stephen Kozlowski said.

The draft of the noise ordinance presented in the public hearing Monday night would have given contractors the ability to work on buildings between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Sundays and federal holidays if approved for adoption. It is currently illegal for contractors to work on Sundays under the town's current noise ordinance, which has been .

The ordinance was last modified in 1991, though it has come before the council several times since then.

Town Council extended last night's public hearing about the ordinance to March 7, which will mark  the fourth public hearing on the issue. In addition to reconsidering Sunday as a working day for contractors, the town also will consider outlining specific federal holidays on which work is not allowed, instead of banning work on all of them, and adjusting the hours on Saturday morning to ban noise until 9 a.m., instead of allowing work to start at 7 a.m, among other changes.

Councilwoman Edythe Kelleher requested another hearing because prohibiting lawn and tree work work on Sundays was not advertised as part of the draft for Monday's public hearing.

"It may be that Vienna should prohibit lawn and tree work on Sundays, but I believe it is fair and appropriate to seek input from the businesses and customers who would be affected," she said. 

Monday marked the third hearing for this section of the ordinance. The. That draft of the ordinance would restrict work that contractors could perform during "quiet" hours, but allow homeowners to do the same type of work on their own home. The second hearing, , got rid of the distinction between homeowners and contractors, but residents last night said they wanted it back.

"A hammer is one thing, but when you bring in the commercial guys and they've got the equipment with a lot of hammers going at once, that noise gets significant," resident George Creed said.

In the 20 years since the ordinance was modified, the construction activity has changed "dramatically" in Vienna, Kozlowski said.

"Twenty years ago we were talking about residents replacing roof, siding, windows or adding a deck. Now it appears that the preponderance of activity is tear-downs and rebuilds and that's a significantly dramatic change," he said.

Kozlowski submitted to the council a study of construction in his own neighborhood, MacArthur Court from Beluah Road to John Marshall Drive, during the last seven years.

He said 18 percent of surrounding properties -- nearly one in five -- were torn down and replaced completely in that time; 30 percent of homes underwent significant remodeling or reconstruction, such as adding a second floor; and 20 percent of properties did more minor work. That's some form of construction in about 70 percent of the neighborhood over the last seven years, he said.

Giving each project a lifespan of 3.5 months, Kozlowski argued in the study that there has been some form of construction activity for 60 percent of the past seven years.

"To some of us it seems like it never stops," he said.

Resident Bill Gibson said even with the hours as they are, some contractors still don't respect them. Allowing contractors to work on Sunday at 9 a.m. could actually mean that they begin earlier than that, he said.

"I can't tell you the number of times I have encountered contractors starting at 6:45 or even 6:30 with the full knowledge that by the time somebody calls it in, it’s going to be 7 a.m. and whoever it is that shows up is not going to see them in violation [because at that point, they're allowed to work]," he said.

Other residents argued that allowing noise on Sunday contributes to a public health threat. Resident Cathy Green cited a National Institute of Health study that said noise exposure can induce hearing impairment, hypertension, heart disease, sleep disturbance and decreased school performance.

"Noise is expected to be a major heath problem during this century," she said.

The NIH study defined "noise" on a decibel level, Green said. She and other residents asked council to consider a decibel level for residential noise as well.

At the November public hearing for the ordinance,Town Attorney Steve Briglia said Vienna Police were worried about the cost and longevity of the equipment required to enforce those kinds of limits. Several jurisdictions,  like Charlottesville, Va., have adopted decibel restrictions since as a more concrete way to measure sound.

The next public hearing for the town's noise ordinance will be at 8 p.m. March 7 at Town Hall.