Residents upset: Leland council discusses adding vibration to noise ordinance

LELAND — A conversation a politician had with a resident of Leland’s Mallory Creek neighborhood could lead to changes in the city’s noise ordinances.

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“He said it reminded him of Jurassic Park,” council member Bill McHugh told his fellow council members at the Aug. 12 agenda review meeting.

McHugh recounted an exchange he had with Daniel Mack last month about vibrations from a nearby development under construction that was shaking their house. McHugh told the board that Mack, along with others, reported construction continuing late into the night.

“He was sitting at the dining room table eating dinner and his iced tea was swirling throughout the meal,” McHugh explained during the meeting. “You’re talking about 12 to 18 months of construction — that could get pretty old, pretty quickly, especially at night.”

Emails sent from the city of Leland from Mack to City Manager David Hollis say he and other residents endured 13 hours of constant vibrations.

Construction stems from the Riverwalk Pointe development. A 39.66 acre neighborhood consisting of 50 single family lots and 236 homes. It is located adjacent to the Mallory Creek neighborhood in the formerly wooded area between South Palm Drive and Highway 133. It is being developed by the landowners, Rabon NC LLC.

“All day my board vibrates and my frames rattle and hum like a dental drill,” Mack wrote in an email to the city.

The Port City Daily tried to contact Mack about his experience, but was unable to reach him through the media.

At the meeting, McHugh acknowledged that the vibration issues did not significantly threaten the homes’ structural integrity. He said the vibrations seem to be subsiding and the added staff discussed meeting time ordinances with the developer. However, McHugh wants to address any potential discrepancies in the ordinances.

“Due to the large amount of construction in the area, I believe the vibrations may be a gap in our ordinances that I would prefer to address proactively rather than reactively,” McHugh wrote in an email to the Port City Daily Tuesday. “As Leland grows, we’re going to see more infill development, and I think it’s important to stay ahead of these issues to make sure the disruption to existing residents and homeowners is minimized as much as possible.”

McHugh suggested possibly reforming the allowable construction time and including vibration as a form of noise in the regulations.

Mack is not the only Mallory Creek resident who has testified that he has had problems with the construction. Sharon Powers, whose home is behind the construction site on the far side of South Palm Drive, said as the bulldozers work, her entire home rattles.

“My travel magnet collection bounces around and off the boards it hangs on,” she told the Port City Daily on Tuesday. “Even my turtle tank was making waves.”

Powers also noted in early July that she and her husband saw construction going on around 9 p.m. after the sun had already set. They called the Leland Police Department, which she said warned workers they faced a fine for working after dusk.

Construction activities — such as construction, excavation, demolition, alteration or repair — must cease between 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset, according to Leland’s ordinance, unless there is an emergency. McHugh said the daylight saving time changes, which result in later sunsets, could lead to disruptions in the community during the evening.

He suggested reviewing the time constraints, especially for the evening limit, possibly by establishing fixed hours.

“You know, if I’m just trying to put my daughter in a flying crib at 9:30 p.m.,” McHugh said. “It appears to be a potential problem that we thought would be better addressed sooner rather than later.”

Nicholas Newell, president of the Mallory Creek Homeowners Association, expressed his support for potential changes to the construction time ordinances and suggested they be changed to reflect the 8 p.m. end time. He pointed out that the current wording “30 minutes after sunset” is open to interpretation. The city uses sunrise and sunset times as listed by the US Naval Observatory.

“In the summer months, it could be close to 10 o’clock,” Newell said. “And there’s really no reason why construction activity has to happen late.”

However, Newell said changing construction times could extend the timeline for a development to be completed.

Hollis called it a “double-edged sword” in his emails with Mack, echoing the same sentiment: “Then it can drag on and drag out the process.”

At Monday’s agenda review meeting, council member Bob Campbell asked about the potential need for more advanced equipment to measure vibrations.

Campbell urged that any change be made by objective standards rather than reasonable standards. McHugh responded that he was reluctant to invest in expensive equipment or define standards at this time.

“I don’t know how we would address them or how much we could even enforce under North Carolina law,” McHugh wrote in an email to PCD. “I will rely on our subject matter experts and our lawyers to research how that might work.”

The item was just a presentation on the council agenda and no action was taken. Staff is still reviewing McHugh’s suggestion.

Tips or comments? Email journalist Jalyn Baldwin at [email protected].

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