Greenwich is a noisy town, owing to its location and density.
Three major highways bisect Greenwich, I-95, I-684 and the Merritt Parkway. It is on the flight paths of multiple area airports. And if those weren’t enough to test our aural sensibilities, Amtrak and Metro North are here to give some of us a very early wakeup call every day.
But by far the noisiest elements of town are those that we can control. For more than two months last year our neghborhood in Riverside was assaulted on a daily basis from dawn to dusk by the jack-hammering of ledge in a “tear-down” construction project. The jack-hammering part of the construction was projected to last three weeks, but like virtually every project, there was more ledge than expected and it went on for 10 long weeks. The impact on the neighborhood was immense, but neighbors were caught in a Catch-22. We could complain to the building department. But once it started, we wanted the construction to end as soon as possible.
I was reminded of this recently when I heard the sound of another jackhammer projecting over the entire area of Greenwich Point. What a dissonant sensory experience. It was a beautiful early May day, and the waterfront at Greenwich Cove was particularly inviting. The chirping of migratory birds could be heard – until the jackhammer went at it.
I managed to find the construction site on Meadow Road and captured the noise on video.
Between the construction noise and the explosion of leaf blowing in the spring and fall, our bucolic neighborhoods have taken on the characteristics of an amusement park.
Having suffered through such an experience, my recommendation would be that the town allow the contractors to bring in multiple pieces of equipment in order to compress the time. This is not allowed right now, because the noise ordinance forbids the increasing noise projected by multiple jackhammers. But this is a tradeoff I am willing to make. Since we can’t stand in the way of enterprising contractors – and we shouldn’t – we should at least try and minimize the disruption to the rest of us who actually live here.
