LELAND — A conversation a politician had with a resident of the Mallory Creek neighborhood in Leland could lead to changes in the town’s noise ordinances.
READ MORE: Brunswick residents argue planning board has too much authority
“He said that it reminded him of Jurassic Park,” council member Bill McHugh told his fellow council members at Aug. 12’s agenda review meeting.
McHugh was reporting on an exchange he had with Daniel Mack last month about vibrations from a nearby development under construction that was causing his house to shake. McHugh told council that Mack, along with others, reported construction continuing late into the night.
“He was sitting at his dining room table eating dinner and his iced tea was rippling throughout the entire meal,” McHugh explained during the meeting. “You’re talking about 12 to 18 months of building — that could get pretty old, pretty fast, especially at night.”
Emails sent from the Town of Leland from Mack to Town Manager David Hollis say that he and other residents have endured 13 hours of constant vibration.
The construction is coming from the Riverwalk Pointe development. A 39.66-acre neighborhood consisting of 50 single-family lots and 236 townhomes. It is located adjacent to the Mallory Creek neighborhood, in the area previously wooded between South Palm Drive and Highway 133. It’s being developed by landowners, Rabon NC LLC.
“All day long, my slab vibrates, and my picture frames rattle and hum like a dental drill,” Mack wrote in an email to the town.
Port City Daily attempted to contact Mack about his experience but could not reach him by press.
At the meeting, McHugh acknowledged the vibration issues were not significantly threatening to the structural integrity of homes. He said the vibrations have appeared to subside and added staff has discussed compliance with time ordinances with the developer. However McHugh wants to address any potential discrepancies in the ordinances.
“Due to the large amount of construction in the area I believe that vibration could be a gap in our ordinances that I would prefer to address proactively, rather than reactively,” McHugh wrote in an email to Port City Daily Tuesday. “As Leland grows, we will see more infill development, and I believe it is important to stay ahead of these issues to ensure that disturbance to existing residents and homeowners is minimized to the best of our ability.”
McHugh suggested potentially reforming allowed construction times and including vibrations as a form of noise in the regulations.
Mack isn’t the only Mallory Creek resident to have attested to experiencing issues with the construction. Sharon Powers, whose house backs up to the construction site on the far side of South Palm Drive, said while bulldozers were operating, her entire house was rattling.
“My collection of travel magnets was bouncing around and off the boards they hang on,” she told Port City Daily Tuesday. “Even my turtle tank was making waves.”
Powers also noted in early July she and her husband saw construction happening around 9 p.m. after the sun had already set. They called the Leland Police Department, who she said warned the workers they faced a fine working past dusk.
Building activities — such as construction, excavation, demolition, alteration, or repair — must cease between 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset, according to Leland’s ordinance, unless there is an emergency. McHugh said changes in daylight saving time, which result in later sunsets, could lead to disruptions in the community during the evening.
He suggested revising time constraints, particularly for the evening cut-off, by potentially establishing fixed times.
“You know, if I’m just trying to put my daughter in a crib that’s rumbling at 9:30 p.m.,” McHugh said. “It just seems like it’s a potential problem that I thought we might be better off addressing ahead of time rather than behind.”
Nicholas Newell, president of the Mallory Creek Homeowners Association, expressed his support for potential amendments to the construction time ordinances and suggested they be changed to reflect an 8 p.m. end time. He pointed out the current “30 minutes after sunset” wording is open to interpretation. The town uses the sunrise and sunset times as listed by the U.S. Naval Observatory.
“In the summer months, it could be as late as almost 10 o’clock,” Newell said. “And there’s really no reason that construction activity needs to be happening late.”
However, Newell did say changing construction times could extend the timeline in completing a development.
Hollis called it a “double-edged sword” in his emails with Mack, expressing the same sentiment: “It can then lengthen and prolong the process.”
At Monday’s agenda review meeting, council member Bob Campbell inquired about the potential need for more advanced equipment to measure vibration.
Campbell asked for any changes to be made by objective standards rather than reasonability standards. McHugh responded he was reluctant to invest in costly equipment or to define the standards at this time.
“I don’t know how we would address these or how much we could even enforce under North Carolina law,” McHugh wrote in an email to PCD. “I will rely on our subject matter experts and attorney to research how it could work.”
The item was only a presentation on the board’s agenda and no action was made. Staff is further looking into McHugh’s suggestion.
Tips or comments? Email journalist Jalyn Baldwin at jalyn@localdailymedia.com.
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our morning newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
