Kitchener council denies noise exemption for construction company building towers on King

No 6 a.m. construction will be coming to Kitchener as council denies a noise exemption for VanMar Constructors, the company building Station Park, high-rise condos on King Street.

The construction company petitioned the City of Kitchener Council in September, wanting the allowed start time to be changed to 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. as allowed in the current bylaws, citing improved productivity and improved work-life balance as the driving factors for the change.

The decision was deferred by council at first to allow VanMar time to collect public feedback alongside city staff, but on Monday, Councillor Scott Davey changed the motion to be in line with staff’s original suggestion to refuse the exemption altogether.

“The engagement is going to be pretty clear,” said Davey. “It’s going to come back in the negative and I really think it’s going to be a waste of staff time and resources.”

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic was in agreement.

“I have not heard from a single person since we dealt with this issue saying ‘Please start construction at 6 a.m.,'” said Vrbanovic. “I’ve heard the total opposite.”

Councillor Paul Singh disagreed, adding he thought it was worth staff’s time to work with VanMar to gather public feedback.

“We have a partner in our community who’s a builder, who’s actually constructing, at a time when others aren’t,” said Singh. “The fact that they’ve had that asked and giving them an opportunity to engage with the public shows that we are a consolatory partner.”

Noise exemptions have been made in the past in Waterloo Region to allow for early morning construction.

In fact, while the LRT was being built, an overnight construction exemption was passed by the City of Waterloo to allow crews to work around the clock from May until the end of December in 2016.

When it came time to vote Councillor Singh was the only one to deny Councillor Davey’s motion.