The SM Daily Journal on Friday ran a story about the building boom in Burlingame and how the council is pushing form more and more housing. Link here. Personally I am not a big fan of more housing in downtown. In fact I ran for council in 2014 and said as much.
Also in the Journal was a letter about the council limiting the hours of construction. The letter writer congratulates the council for doing so. I do too. With all this building, we need a little rest from it once in a while. Why is it that construction does not take place during regular business hours. Those of us who just want a little peace before and after our hard days work can't seem to get it.
Here is the letter:
Burlingame construction rules July 15, 2016, 05:00 AM Letter
Editor,
Thank you for your recent article about new construction hours for the city of Burlingame (July 7).
With so many construction projects going on all over town, there needs to be a balance to provide neighbors with some respite.
Just in my own immediate neighborhood, there are five major new home projects going on within a range of 150 feet from my house.
Construction starts at or before 7 a.m. and continue till 7 p.m. or later almost every day.
For those of us who live near the job sites, the ceaseless noise can be unbearable and the associated nuisance of truck deliveries that block streets is a nightmare.
I understand the need for families to improve or expand their homes but most of these families are living elsewhere while their dream homes are being built.
Thank you Burlingame City Council for voting to prohibit construction on Sundays and holidays plus moving start time to 8 a.m. weekdays.
Constance Quirk
Burlingame
I see a lot of construction in my neighborhood too.
A gigantic home is being built behind me.
Might as well be an apartment building. It blocks out lots of trees that we used to see and they now have direct view of our yard. They don't care about the neighbors, it's all about having the biggest house, biggest cars and the most toys. How pathetic.
Posted by: Samiselfie | July 17, 2016 at 12:48 PM
Limiting construction hours makes construction slower and more expensive. Its ok to want to limit those hours for your peace and quiet, but be aware that when it comes time for you to do some work on your house the costs will come back to you.
I'm not saying its not a rationale choice to make (peace and quiet now in exchange for higher costs and slower work later), but like most things there's always a hidden cost.
Posted by: Jason | August 05, 2016 at 10:48 AM
Many people work from home and put up with hours and hours of jack hammering, drilling, banging, loud music, and many other construction issues that will go on for months if not years. Sunday should be a reprieve from daily chaos of construction from 8am-7pm M-F. These are the new weekday hours which are very generous-11hour workday + Saturday 9-5.
Jason, is that too much to ask?
I could also go in to the fact that these GIGANTIC homes on very tiny lots look silly & DISRICULOUS but I won't.
Posted by: Samiselfie | August 07, 2016 at 10:44 AM
Leaf-blowers; We will look back on their use in 10 years the way we we now look at the weirdness of people smoking on airplanes...
And noise pollution is what woukd surprise our ancestors more than flying machines.
Posted by: Sisyphus | August 07, 2016 at 09:24 PM