An 8-month nightmare: Boynton residents dealing with relentless construction project noise
Monterey Bay residents, are greeted daily by the seismic sounds of trucks, gravel and concrete. Many are jolted awake hours before their alarms by the construction of their new neighbor — a rising, lofty concrete industrial warehouse and the source of their frustrating restless nights.
Amelia Betancur, a longtime resident of the neighborhood just east of Congress Avenue just north of Delray Beach, calls it 'a nightmare.'
'Waking up at crazy hours to vibrating beds, truck noises, we put up black-out blinds to try and sleep in, to get woken up by the vibrating, the noise," she said. "Coming home one day from work and there's a crack in your ceiling. That's what's been happening.'
Betancur said the construction work has been persistent since August and that she and her pets often relocate to her mother's house to get away from the noise.
'About nine months ago, a lot of residents and myself woke up to bulldozers literally 6 feet away from our bedrooms. … The windows were vibrating, and those are impact windows,' said Dimitri Despointes, another Monterey Bay resident.
Many residents say the long construction project has affected their families, with loud noise continuing late into the night. With the project starting at the beginning of the fall semester, parents also expressed concerns for their children.
'I have kids. … They don't care that we have to sleep. They don't care that if they're working on a Saturday morning, we're being vibrated out of our beds,' said Tina Bedame, who says she has lived in Monterey Bay for almost 19 years.
Adds Bentancur: '(Construction workers) don't live here. They don't have their kids here. It started right when school started. I had my niece and nephew over a few times, and they can't sleep. They get woken up and then they have to go to school. It's not a great way to wake up.'
Those who work from home also report experiencing difficulty focusing, fleeing their homes during work hours to escape the distraction.
'(I avoid) my home to get peace of mind, to get quiet, having to literally buy a drink at Starbucks to just get quiet,' Betancur said.
The city of Boynton Beach allows for construction between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. on weekdays and a significant portion of the day Saturday. This leaves just eight hours of silence each day for residents. However, residents recall hearing construction noise at 2 a.m., as well as on Sundays, well outside of legal hours.
Residents say the project, led by Miller Construction Co., began in August. An official with the Fort Lauderdale-based construction company did not respond to calls, but according to the construction company's website, the project is labeled to become an industrial warehouse. It is expected to be complete sometime in 2025.
However, noise is not the only concern. Many claim dust is coating their cars and even causing structural damage to their homes. Multiple residents describe cracks in their ceilings caused by the heavy vibrations just feet away. As concerns have intensified, residents have turned to the city for answers.
'I felt like the city of Boynton Beach did not take this community into consideration for any of this. It was just 'big business, big dollars,' and that's all they're looking at,' Bedame said. 'Boynton Beach did not take into consideration our perspective here.'
Others agree.
'We have people with cracked tiles and cracked walls, and no one has even looked at the community. No one has inspected them. No one has asked us how we're feeling,' Despointes said.
To assist with dust-coated vehicles, residents say the city gave them car wash vouchers. However, with only $12 and cracks in their ceilings, many feel it isn't enough.
Boynton Beach City Commissioner Angela Cruz visited the neighborhood in February to observe residents' complaints and address their concerns firsthand.
'My intention was really to let my constituents know that I'm here for them. I think that a lot of the sentiment was 'The city doesn't care about us,' and I want them to know and understand that that's not the case,' Cruz said. 'I care about my constituents very much, and I will advocate for them.'
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Cruz wants to address the current construction hours in the city, with the hopes to shorten legal hours surrounding residential neighborhoods within 100 to 400 feet building to building. Her proposal aims to end construction at 7 p.m. and adjust Saturday hours to begin at 10 a.m.
'The changes that I'm proposing are very limited in scope to protect residential areas,' Cruz said regarding future plans. 'Under no circumstances will there ever be construction adjacent to a residential area within a certain amount of feet.'
Cruz encourages residents to speak with the construction company directly, and points to individual insurance carriers.
While residents express appreciation for Cruz's visit to the neighborhood, many still feel their needs are not being met. Bentacur called the situation 'a double-edged sword.'
'She's (Cruz) trying, and she's here, and she's making the attempt … but what's changing?' Bentancur said.
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Residents also worry it won't stop once construction has concluded, as the warehouse will likely welcome more commotion.
'One of the concerns we do have right now is making sure that once they do have tenants, because this is a massive building, … are there going to be any sort of rules and regulations to make sure that the residents are not affected by this business that's operating literally in our backyards?' Despointes said.
Residents have taken to City Commission meetings to voice their concerns, with some even saying they're considering legal action.
'They hear us making noise, and they hear about lawsuits, and they are trying to be a little more considerate, but I feel like that time has passed,' Betancur said. 'We're too late to stop whatever is coming from coming … but it's like, what about us?'
However, others say they have given up hope for this project and are now simply advocating for new noise and construction ordinances.
'It's not going to help us, but maybe it's going to help the next project somewhere,' Despointes said.
Cruz has pushed to adjust the current noise ordinance near residential neighborhoods this month, but the issue has since been delayed to a potential April commission meeting. According to Cruz, she received unanimous support from colleagues to push forward with a new draft.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boynton Beach warehouse construction project rankles nearby residents
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