Kirkland residents living near a large mixed use project located at 12055 Slater Ave. Northeast, near Totem Lake, say the construction is now impacting their quality of life.
Overnight Monday into Tuesday, residents told KOMO News that the noise and vibration coming from their construction site was shaking the ground, this work even lasting until around 4:30 a.m., according to Susan, one of the residents who lives next to the project.
“Noise is one thing, you can put earplugs in, but they’re referring to it as a ‘minor noise disruption,’ but you can’t sleep through that,” Susan said. “Lately we seem to have been on a pretty good path where they do construction during the normal hours in Kirkland, but starting last night, just a whole new level of noise and just vibrations. My understanding is that they’re drilling under the ground. This is whole house shaking. Supposedly it’s going on for the next month,” Susan added.
Susan questioned, why they can’t just do the work during the day?
One resident who wanted to remain anonymous said, “this is really bad for my work. I can’t even sleep. There’s a lot of vibration at night and because of the vibration, I can’t sleep. The whole house is shaking.”
The "notice of proposal," posted on the gates of the construction site state it is a seven-story, three-building project.
A KOMO News crew that was at the construction site on Tuesday also felt the vibrations going through the ground during the day, which would last for several seconds at a time.
Resident Natasha Hooda had a message for city of Kirkland leaders, “I understand development is great for the community, but what about people that are already living here? We need to work in partnership together to make sure that we’re not inconveniencing all the residents while trying to attract new residents here.”
KOMO News has reached out to the project manager of the site with the company, Fairfield Residential.
In a statement they told KOMO News:
“Fairfield is building a multi-family apartment community and work is ongoing. We continue to and always do follow city guidelines and ensure we have proper permitting. In this case, the city required that the specific work of connecting the city water line to our site be conducted at night and has granted the appropriate permits and noise variances to do so” “We will always endeavor to complete our project during working hours but we are required to follow city guidelines and approvals,” Shonna Hiatt, Kirkland site Project Manager with Fairfield Residential.
KOMO News was also handed a notice a resident said came from Fairfield Residential. In that notice dated on Sept. 3, the company stated that utility work must be done between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. and that it is required by the city of Kirkland Transportation Department. KOMO has also asked city officials about this notice.
A spokesperson with the city of Kirkland responded to questions about the project on Tuesday, ultimately adding they will address and work to limit hours when digging is done that would cause ground vibration.
“The construction project has a variance to work at night between the hours 9pm and 5am. This is to prevent significant impacts to the City’s transportation network during the day. The variance is for 7 nights of work currently. The City does not approve night work unless: construction will impact the transportation network, or leave businesses and a large number of residents without potable water. In this instance, the construction company is not able to maintain two-way traffic on Slater Avenue which is a minor arterial street, and that would create significant impacts to the City’s transportation network. We are addressing this (vibration) concern by working with the developer/contractor to limit the work that causes vibration to 9pm – 11pm,” they said.
Ultimately, due to traffic concerns, the city spokesperson told KOMO that they cannot do this work during the day, “The City reviewed alternatives with the developer to maintain two-way traffic on Slater Avenue, but no alternatives were available. There are no options for daytime work without significant impacts on the City’s transportation network. The City reviewed alternatives with the developer to maintain two-way traffic on Slater Avenue, but no alternatives were available.”