Bill Aims To Keep NYC Construction Sites Quiet

NEW YORK, NY — Those jackhammers better keep it down — the City Council on passed new regulations Tuesday that aim to quiet construction noise around the five boroughs.

The bill requires the city Department of Environmental Protection to inspect construction sites at times when noise described in a complaint is likely to happen. The department would also have to issue annual reports about how it responds to noise complaints.

The bill also cuts in half the amount of noise allowed to come from a construction site when work is being done before 7 a.m. or after 6 p.m.

"New York City may be the city that never sleeps, but that shouldn’t be because of after-hours construction noise waking you up," City Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan) said in a statement. "Our new law will turn down the volume on after hours construction noise in residential neighborhoods."

Project managers can get out of strictly following noise rules if they submit a plan to keep their sites as quiet as possible. But that plan has to show they can't do the work without exceeding the legal noise limit, even with measures in place to cut down on noise.

The bill is now on Mayor Bill de Blasio's desk. It would take effect 180 days after the mayor signs it.

(Lead image: A construction worker is pictured in Manhattan in August 2016. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)