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Council approves narrow ordinance amendment to allow limited overnight work on town school projects
Summary
To avoid schedule disruptions on the new high school project, the council adopted a targeted exemption to the nuisance ordinance allowing council-approved school construction to operate outside the usual 9 p.m. ' 7 a.m. restriction for limited, notified activities such as concrete pours with required public notice.
The Town Council voted on March 23 to amend the nuisance (construction-activity) ordinance to exempt town-council-approved school construction projects from the municipality's general restriction on construction between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., provided the town gives public notice of the activity.
Mark, a Gilbane representative working on the new high school, told the council the exemption would be used sparingly and only where construction sequencing (for example, concrete pours that require curing) makes overtime unavoidable. He described the likely night work as limited "one-off" pouring or curing events that are harder to finish during normal hours and said the contractor would provide neighborhood notice in advance.
Councilors probed whether the amendment would create a blanket opening for all town projects; legal staff and the school-building committee stressed the change applies only to council-approved school projects and suggested the council retain oversight via the school-building committee and notification procedures. Several members insisted staff must present project-specific requests in advance and that the contractor inform residents in the area before any night work. With those conditions, the council adopted the amendment by unanimous voice vote.
The change is intended to avoid delaying a major school schedule milestone: the manager said the first concrete pour is scheduled soon and that enforcing the ordinance without an exemption could push back the project. Councilors said they accepted the rationale while asking staff to keep residents informed and to bring any recurring or expanded overnight work back to council for additional approval.
