To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Through: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
Daniel Sailer, P.E., Director of Public Works
From: Jason Hauser, Project Manager
Title
Resolution Approving Variances Pursuant to Chapter 9.16.070.E of the Castle Rock Municipal Code for Nighttime Construction Activities Related to Various 2025 Public Works Projects
Body
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Executive Summary
The Public Works Department is requesting a variance to the Town’s noise ordinance to allow for various planned street maintenance and construction activities to occur at night within Town limits outside of the time periods currently permitted by the Municipal Code. The variance would be in place for one year from the point of approval. This is for the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects that are multi-year projects to be covered until the variance approval request is submitted the following year.
The current Pavement Maintenance Program (PMP), Town Facility Parking Lot Improvement Program, Bridge Maintenance Program (BMP), Pavement Marking Maintenance Program (PMMP) and (CIP) contracts allow for night work to occur. However, the projects do not address the Town’s noise ordinance.
The current noise ordinance prohibits construction activities that create noise disturbances between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Monday through Friday, and between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. Saturday through Sunday, including holidays.
By authorizing night work, impacts to the traveling public and businesses will be minimized. Construction activities suitable for night work will, in general, have the activity duration reduced by half. This is due to the ability to have larger areas of one- way traffic or close portions of a street, which allows contractors to have a larger area to work in to increase productivity. The night work, in general, will start at approximately 7:00 p.m. and be completed by 5:00 a.m., prior to peak morning traffic.
With better than expected pricing on the PMP contracts, staff is anticipating to expand project scopes utilizing savings to maximize the appropriated budget for maintenance needs. The purposed added scope would include work in the Downtown area, which will benefit from night work.
The Town Facility Parking Lot Improvement Program night work includes the P.S. Miller Park. The night activates are tentatively scheduled between August and September, 2025. Once the night work has started, citizens should experience a week or less of consistent night work.
The BMP will be conducting night work on N. Meadows bridge over HWY 85. This maintenance work will take place during July and August.
Traffic Engineering night work includes the Pavement Marking Maintenance Program.
CIP night work includes the Crystal Valley Interchange Project, Dawson Trails Boulevard Project, Crowfoot Valley Road Widening Project and Fifth Street Improvement Project. The majority of these projects will be constructed during daytime hours; however, the option to work periodically at night may minimize overall impact to the public.
Once contractors are selected for the projects, the schedules will be finalized and communicated to the public. All schedules are weather dependent.
The street maintenance and construction activities performed under this variance will include:
• Removals
• Pavement Marking
• Pavement Maintenance
• Street Sweeping
• Mill and Overlay Operations
• Concrete repairs
Most of this work will be performed by contractors contracted by the Town to perform work however, some pavement marking and street sweeping may be performed by Public Works staff. The variance to the ordinance would allow maintenance activities to occur during the summer months while minimizing disruption to the traveling public, as well as normal business activities in the Downtown area.
Staff and the Town’s contractors understand the importance of minimizing noise disturbances adjacent to residential areas during night activities. All night work scheduled will be approved by the Town to minimize resident disruption. The project team will conduct public outreach to provide residents with advance notice of scheduled night work. Staff is recommending approval of the variance to the Town’s noise ordinance in order to minimize disruption to the traveling public and normal business activities.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
Staff will communicate these work activities to the public as appropriate. Public outreach will occur in numerous forms such as; 1) the Public Outreach Open House, 2) Town newsletters, 3) Town social media, 4) Door notifications, 5) Press releases, 6) Town website, and others. Residents and businesses will be notified of actual dates that work is to be completed adjacent to their properties, and traffic control plans will be developed and managed to ensure worker and public safety.
Discussion
The Town Municipal Code 9.16.030.B.5 prohibits construction noise that will create a noise disturbance from occurring between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., Monday through Friday, and between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. Saturday through Sunday, including holidays. A noise disturbance is defined in the Code as a 50-decibel level or higher at the residential real property boundary.
The attached location maps illustrate the location of residential zoned properties within a bock (300 LF) of the construction limits of each project. It is anticipated that construction work may create a noise disturbance. In this circumstance, residents will be offered hotel accommodations on the few select nights when work is in close proximity of their residences. This is a continued practice of the Town to offer residents hotel accommodations during the nighttime construction activities.
Night work construction activities will be limited to Sunday evening through Friday morning for the PMP, the Traffic Pavement Marking Maintenance program, Town Facility Parking Lot Improvement Program project and the Bridge Maintenance Program. The CIP projects are anticipated to perform night construction activities Sunday through Saturday to help the contractors expedite the construction schedule.
Financial Impact
The financial impact of this action will be limited to the cost of providing residents hotel accommodations on a few of the select nights when work is in close proximity to their residences. No additional project cost from the contractor will be incurred with these night activities because the projects were bid with night work anticipated. No additional cost from consulting engineers will be incurred as their contracts will be set up to accommodate night work. No additional overtime will be incurred by the Town with these activities as staff will shift their work schedules to night hours for the necessary time periods. Staff has intentionally left sufficient funds in the project accounts to cover the anticipated costs. Historically, the cost has been less than $1,000.
Recommendation
Staff recommends that Town Council approve the resolution as introduced by title. This item was reviewed by the Public Works Commission at their March 3rd meeting. Their formal recommendation will be provided at the Council meeting.
Proposed Motion
“I move to approve the Resolution as introduced by title.”
Alternative Motions:
“I move to approve the resolution as introduced by title with the following changes ______”
“I move to continue this item to a future Town Council meeting date”
Attachments
Resolution
Attachment A: Location Maps