NAPLES, Fla. — As Collier County continues to grow, more construction has led to more complaints from nearby neighbors. On Tuesday, county commissioners took the first step in addressing those complaints.
In the past few months, we’ve brought you stories about noise complaints from airplanes, traffic, and outdoor music. But as more buildings are being built, there have been complaints about construction noise as well.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Collier County commissioners voted to direct staff to look into changing the land development code or the noise control ordinance in areas where commercial development butts up against residential areas.
One of the construction sites drawing complaints in a four-story storage facility that’s being built near U.S. 41 and Rattlesnake Hammock Road in East Naples.
“It’s been under construction just over a year, and the noise has been just unbelievable,” said Karen Wald.
Wald lives in the El Capistrano condos that sit just 50 feet from the construction site. She said construction has started as early as 6 a.m., and she said it can go past 8 p.m.
Tara Arnstein lives in another adjacent condo complex, and she also complained about the worksite.
“There’s a lot of banging, a lot of noise,” Arnstein said. “You walk over there with your animals and there’s a lot of trash, a lot of traffic. Just a lot of unnecessary stuff over there.”
Gus Gomez, who is superintendent of the construction site, says that his company, Shamrock Building Systems, is following all county rules concerning construction hours.
Gomez said Shamrock also paid to repair the potholes in Valley Stream Drive, the road the condos are on.
Adjusting the county codes could limit the hours when construction can happen.
“Saturday and Sundays should be a no go for sure,” Wald said. “And I would say stop at 5 o'clock. Give us a little bit of peace and quiet.”
Hedras Joseph works for Demers Moving of Southwest Florida, which he hopes will get work moving people into the new storage facility.
And that’s good for the rest of the economy, Joseph said.
“This isn’t good just for Demers Moving,” he said. “This is also good for people who need a job, because (the storage facility) is going to have employees.”
There were no changes made to the noise ordinance Tuesday. The commissioners simply voted to re-examine the codes, which Commissioner Penny Taylor said haven’t been re-written since the 1990s.
