Noise variance decision put off

Libby City Council members on Monday decided to put off a decision on whether to grant St. John’s Lutheran Hospital a variance on a city noise ordinance during construction of a new facility.

St. John’s Lutheran Hospital’s Facilities Manager Tony Rebo asked the City Council to grant a variance on the ordinance, which prohibits loud noise before 7 a.m.

Rebo said trucks carrying both concrete and steel, which is being delivered from Texas, arrive at varying hours of the day. 

Rebo said streets must be plowed early in the day for  delivery of both concrete and steel during the construction phase.

“Snow removal must also be done before normal hours. Currently, the hospital staff and city workers will start between 1 and 2 a.m. I would expect that the construction site would start after that, but will start before 7 a.m.,” Rebo told council members, which is in violation of the noise ordinance.

Bill Dirkes, of 308 Dakota, who lives adjacent to the hospital construction site, has been critical of crews who he said are continually violating the noise ordinance.

“My wife has chastised me for not keeping a diary,” Dirkes told council members about a lack of documentation.

Dirkes has been outspoken critic of the early-morning construction starts, particularly citing the piercing bells of a large truck’s back-up bell that he said has been heard as early as 5:30 a.m.

Councilman Bill Bischoff urged the panel to put off a decision on the variance until he and other members can investigate the variance, which Rebo requested for the duration of the project.

Bischoff said the Council should be able to make a recommendation and return by its next meeting, which will be in on Tuesday, Jan. 22, the day after the Martin Luther King holiday.

Dirkes was not alone in his criticism of the noise. Tim Hardcourt of 321 Dakota also took exception to the early morning work schedule.

“I’m not nearly as mad as my neighbor,” Hardcourt said. “This working 24 hours a day is ridiculous. There’s no reason to be working that long, 24 hours. They just want to do it,” said Hardcourt.

For his part, Dirkes calmly presented his objection to what he called violations to the noise ordinance.

“Where do I start?” Dirkes began. “All we want is peace and quiet.”

Dirkes said since the project began it has been almost constant noise, “usually starting about 6:20-ish. It is nice to have the snow now as it kind of buffers the noise.”

Dirkes told council members soon after his initial complaint, Rebo and SJLH CEO Bruce Whitfield came to his house to tell him things would improve.

“I wanted to see whether their walk was as good as their talk,” Dirkes told council members of that visit.

“What I have to say about granting a variance for a noise ordinance is short and sweet,” said Dirkes whose job is construction. “I have never seen a noise ordinance granted for the duration of a project. … Poor planning does not constitute an emergency.”

D.C. Orr, a former city councilman and often critic of the Council, also took to the podium in Dirkes’ defense.

“Your heart was in the right place, to protect the people from noise,” Orr told the council of its plans to draft the ordinance last fall. 

However, Orr said the council now is allowing someone to violate the law for profit.

“(The work crews should) Fit their schedules around the neighbors’ sleeping habits. You’re not allowing them to comply with the law, you allowing them to violate the law. (They) need to put their greed aside and take care of the neighbors,” Orr contended.

During his explanation for the needs of the variance, Rebo presented a well-organized case for granting the relief.

Rebo told council members he and work crews are doing what they can to take as much of the operation away from the proximity of the homes on Dakota, saying delivery trucks are staging out at Town Pump until they are summoned to off-load their cargos of concrete and steel. He also said when steel is unloaded, it’s as far away from the Dirkes’ home as possible. The hospital also has constructed a parking lot for work crews’ personal vehicles while on the job, removing those vehicles from the curbs of Dakota.

“I’m not asking for a permit to abuse our neighbors,” Rebo said. “I’m asking for relief of this ordinance for the duration of the project because I can’t give you a date (of completion.)”

In the end, Bischoff, the council president, asked for a period to probe the problem.

“I just want more time to investigate this,” Bischoff said. “I just want to talk with (Police Chief Jim) Smith and some of the neighbors out there.”

Mayor Doug Roll offered to revisit the variance later.

“I think we should put this on hold for now.”