Council approves early 4 a.m. concrete pours for new elementary school; contractor to provide schedule and notices

Hyde Park’s council approved a contractor request on June 25 to allow some early-morning concrete pours for the new elementary school project, provided the contractor submits a detailed schedule and notifies residents in advance.

Wayne Anderson, president of DWA Construction, told the council the new elementary is a tilt-up structure and that multiple, sometimes continuous, pours are needed to avoid shrinkage cracks and structural problems. “It’ll be multiple pours… casting pads for the walls, and they will probably run you’re probably gonna have 15-ish, I would think… but they’re gonna pour a lot of them at the same time,” Anderson said.

Council conditions and schedule Council members said they preferred fewer nighttime disturbances if possible and asked whether pours could start at 6:00 or 8:00 a.m. Anderson and staff explained the timing is driven by concrete chemistry and temperature; pours in the heat of daytime can accelerate reactions and cause cracking. The mayor and staff agreed the city would approve early pours no earlier than 4:00 a.m. but required a Gantt chart and 48-hour notice to residents; staff said they would send notices and publish the schedule.

Motion and follow-up David moved to approve the early pours under those conditions; Tiffany seconded the motion and the council approved it. Staff said the schedule will likely be intermittent — a few pours per week at times and pauses between sequences — and could continue intermittently through October. Council members also encouraged the contractor to use the city’s notification channels to alert residents when early pours occur.

What to expect Residents should expect intermittent early-morning activity at the elementary school site when the contractor submits and finalizes the schedule; the council required the notice provisioning and a detailed Gantt chart from DWA Construction before any early-morning work begins.