The Process and Politics of Permitting Nighttime Construction Noise in Seattle, Washington

摘要

The City of Seattle has developed a unique process for addressing noise associated with nighttime construction work, increasing the level of jurisdictional oversight, compliance monitoring, and community involvement. This new variance process has been honed by the increasing number of transportation projects within the City that require construction to continue throughout the night to keep tunnel boring machines moving forward safely, minimize traffic impacts, and meet schedule commitments for major public projects. The variance process also recognizes public benefits from infrastructure projects and includes specific procedural provisions for facilitating construction of these project types during nighttime hours. The current variance process often requires the submittal of a Noise Management and Mitigation Plan that presents predicted construction sound levels, mitigation strategies, compliance monitoring guidelines, variance sound level limits, and methods for community outreach and public involvement. The authors will share their experiences with this fairly new noise variance process, including methods for clarifying mitigation requirements, strategic compliance assessments, and complaint response and resolution.