Kitchener council defers vote on 6 a.m. start time for construction company
Posted Sep 17, 2024 04:00:10 PM.
Last Updated Sep 17, 2024 04:00:16 PM.
It will still be some time before a developer will know if its workers can start early.
VanMar Constructors ON Inc. petitioned the Kitchener Council’s planning committee meeting on Sept. 16, asking that workers at its Station Park development at King and Wellington streets be allowed to start work at 6:00 a.m. Current city regulations prevent outside work from beginning before 7:00 a.m.
A delegation from the company told council they believe the move would improve productivity while also helping with employee work life balance.
Kitchener Ward 9 councillor Debbie Chapman told The Mike Farwell Show she isn’t buying that line of reasoning.
“I’m a full supporter of the working class and working people but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here. That’s not what this is about. This is about a developer wanting to get more hours in,” she said. “I really do not believe it’s about the workers.”
The company did promise to limit the noise between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. but that did little to convince Chapman.
“We’ve got a bylaw that says construction starts at 7:00 a.m. and goes to 7:00 p.m. That’s a twelve-hour day that can benefit the developer. It won’t change the world by doing that but it will change the world of the people that live within a construction area.”
Chapman said council will often grant noise exemptions for a day or two but what VanMar is asking for is a seven-month exemption. She also points out that the Station Park project has plans for a fourth residential tower to be built in the next three or four years. She worries the company would ask for another exemption at that time if council grants this one.
Councillors did defer the vote, choosing instead to conduct public consultation in the surrounding neighbourhoods.
Chapman voted against the deferral.
