San Diego

Night Construction Noises Frustrates Bay Park Residents

The sounds of circular saw sawing, wood being cut and nail gun firing are driving people at a Mission Bay neighborhood up the wall.

Workers are putting in air conditioning in classrooms are Bay Park Elementary School. It’s a welcome addition were it not for the fact constructions are being done at night.

"We want them to have air conditioning because it gets very hot," Carol Wadell said. She lives with her two nieces directly across from the school.

Because of the proximity to the ocean, many homes in Bay Park don’t have air condition. People rely on open windows to let the cool air in at night. And lately, that also include lots of loud noises.

“It just goes on and on, scraping, talking, big forklifts,” Wadell said.

The construction is part of a San Diego Unified School District-wide initiative to get all schools equipped with AC by the end of next summer.

Residents, however, did not know that the work would be done so late into the evening, sometimes as late as 11 p.m.

Since workers can’t interfere with students’ learning, the work has to be done at night, the district told NBC 7.

“I can just how sad it is and difficult it is for people with kids,” Glenn Gentile said. He lives three blocks away from the school and his home is no longer a refuge from a long’s day work.

“It’s just unbelievable they can get away with that," he said. “You can always hear the hammers, the circular saw.”

But that’s not the only thing making its way into their living rooms.

“The tar smell is overwhelming,” Gentile said. “You basically have to close up the whole house.”

Homeowners wonder why the district didn't do this over summer break when crews could work normal hours.

With 20 active heating and air conditioning projects, workers could not get them all done during the summer months alone, the district said. Crews, however, still must obey city ordinance requiring noise levels between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. to be at or below certain decibels.

Residents, however, do not think that is happening. Fortunately, the district said the noisy phase — reinforcing the roofs — should last another week or so in Bay Park.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that other neighborhoods may soon experience a similar problem.

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