Saturday construction ban considered

 

The Manhattan Beach City Council is considering restricting or eliminating Saturday construction, although initial discussion regarding the matter at Tuesday night’s meeting was lukewarm. 

Councilperson Suzanne Hadley suggested that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. 

“We built our house in 1999. There was Saturday construction, and I love my house and I want my neighbors to have their house,” Hadley said. “So I don’t want to say I have mine and you can’t have yours.” 

Councilperson Richard Montgomery said a ban would end up costing homeowners, particularly for longer construction loans since they are in need of new administrative staff and equipment like PCD Tools, and materials.

“Nobody realizes it, there’s a cost for delay,” he said. 

Construction is currently allowed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. The council had the matter on the agenda at this point largely to encourage community input. 

“I think we can all say we live next to a house under construction,” Mayor Nancy Hersman said. “We all live it if we live in Manhattan Beach.” 

Public testimony was both for and against the elimination of Saturday construction. 

John Austin, a 45-year local resident, said his peace has been disturbed by three major projects occurring within two blocks of his home. 

“I work fairly hard all week and then I come home about six o’clock Friday night and I like to relax,” Austin said. “I look forward to it. I like to listen to the ocean…I moved here to hear the ocean. I thoroughly enjoy it. But when I hear this,” Austin said, making a pounding sound on the podium, “I can’t open the door Saturday morning. So I feel Saturday construction should be banned. I really don’t think eight hours of construction on Saturday will make or break contractors or people flipping houses.” 

Resident Bailey Singh, a Sand Section resident, said that due to the dense nature of dwellings there, noise and vibrations have a big impact. 

“When we purchased our property here it was a quiet beach community with a peaceful spirit,” he said. “In the last couple of years, however, it has become a construction zone…You know, weekends are supposed to be for residents. Most businesses and offices are closed for that reason. For the same reason, construction should not be allowed, either.” 

Resident Ray Joseph said he has had construction on both sides of his home as well as behind it, but welcomes it. He said communities that are not changing are growing. 

“A lot of the original houses built in Manhattan Beach were small weekend houses…I like the bigger homes that come in, because that’s how we can get families in the neighborhood,” Joseph said. “If you live in a house, it disrupted someone when it was being built, so it’s kind of hypocritical to say ‘No construction.’” 

Joseph also suggested that making construction more difficult would also make it more expensive and property in Manhattan Beach less desirable. 

“It puts downward pressure on our property values, so it’s bad for community residents, and also for the poor laborers who need to work six days — they need the time to make money,” Joseph said. 

Peter Paldino, a local architect and contractor, said losing Saturdays would cause projects to last longer. 

“It will make projects go longer, maybe up to 25 percent longer,” he said. “The typical project is two years, so if you are happy with another six months of construction on your street, then it’s not a problem.” 

A contractor who did not identify himself at the podium said that Saturdays are often critical days, when things are scheduled that are more difficult to do on weekdays, due to traffic — such as material deliveries and bringing in cement trucks to pour. 

“So everybody hates construction,” he said. “I hate construction and I’m a contractor. Construction is the worst. So the knee jerk reaction may be to reduce Saturday hours. Those hours will be placed at the end of the project, so the project will take longer, so I think people who hate construction will be more upset by that. And the transition is not as simple as 52 days lost per year. The way construction is, the tasks…when they become discontinuous, the subcontractors will go off to other jobs, so 52 days is going to get off into 100 days and that is going to be a bigger detriment to the neighbors.” 

“If you keep piling on the costs, and then next year we’ve got to add solar, at some point it becomes cost-ineffective to build in this city,” said another contractor. “So my summation is banning Saturday construction, terrible idea.” 

The council largely kept its discussion to directing staff to obtain data, such as the exact number of projects occurring, by year, and investigating a construction on Saturdays by permit model like Beverly Hills. Staff had already compiled one chart, showing the policies of 12 cities in the area, ranging from Culver City to Rancho Palos Verdes. All allowed construction on Saturdays (El Segundo beginning at 7 a.m., all 12 allowing at least eight hours). 

Councilperson Steve Napolitano posed a question for those urging a Saturday construction ban. 

“I would put it out there to anyone in favor of eliminating Saturday construction hours and work: would you then also consider an additional hour per day during the week, as opposed to just eliminating eight hours?” he said. “So it’s just a wash.” 

The council will revisit the matter in the next few months. Hadley noted that the dilemma is a good one to have. 

“That is a really great high-class problem — everybody is working and are building homes,” she said. “I’m never going to complain about a booming economy.”

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