Council committee approves limited Saturday start-time exception for school construction after neighbor outreach

At a Committee of the Whole meeting on April 21, 2025, North Ridgeville council debated and voted to send back to council for amendment an ordinance that would suspend the city's noise ordinance for a school construction project so contractors could begin certain Saturday work at 7 a.m. rather than the usual 9 a.m.

Mayor Corcoran explained the request from Hammond Construction, which had asked for relief “from the start time on a Saturday morning to 07:00 instead of 9” to allow crews to make up time after weather delays and to help the project meet milestones tied to opening the new high school in August 2028. Corcoran said the administration and contractor met with nearby residents, mailed 40 to 50 letters to affected homes and that about three people attended the neighborhood meeting.

Councilmembers said they supported keeping the large public project on schedule but expressed concern for immediate neighbors and for tying a legislative waiver to a single private company. Councilmember Winkle said he was concerned about “a general contractor listed in the ordinance specifically” and suggested a permit or generic language rather than naming a private firm. The committee ultimately passed a motion (made by Winkel, seconded by Awig) to send the ordinance back to council with the amendment replacing the specific reference to Hammond Construction and its subcontractors with language applying to the project's general contractor.

The mayor said the ordinance would be structured so other applicants would not meet the same narrow criteria — the work is for a public institution, the project had been approved by voters, and delays could cause financial harm to the district and taxpayers. He said the Saturday work would be granted on an as-needed basis and would not be a weekly allowance.

During the public-comment portion of the committee meeting, Michelle Nelson, 7685 Von Matt Approach, asked whether neighbors had been notified; she told council she had concerns about awareness for residents who live directly adjacent to the project. Mayor Corcoran and the contractor said notices had been mailed and that on-site contacts (the contractor’s representative) would handle resident complaints.

Committee members also discussed administrative alternatives: one option raised was to amend the city code to let the mayor (in place of the obsolete safety-service-director title in current code) issue revocable special permits for lengthy projects instead of enacting ordinance-level waivers tied to particular contracts.

The Committee of the Whole motion to amend the draft and return it to council passed on a roll-call vote; the ordinance will return to full council with the language change limiting the waiver to the project’s general contractor. No final suspension was adopted at the committee meeting; council will consider the amended language on its next agenda.