GREENWICH, CT — Aquarion Water Company and Snyder Civil Engineering have requested an additional 90-day extension to complete the 2,000 feet of water main work on Greenwich Avenue, but the town is pushing to have the construction done sooner to provide some relief for residents while also ensuring businesses aren’t affected during the busy spring and early summer months.
In 2023, the board had granted an initial three-month approval for the work and said it would gather feedback from the public and see how the project was progressing.
Work on the project finally began last month, and it has taken place at night. Residents have been advised to expect minor traffic delays and possible detours during the working hours of 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday through Friday.
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Officials from Snyder Civil Engineering and Aquarion appeared before the Board of Selectmen on Thursday to request the extension. No action was taken to allow more time for public feedback.
The board is expected to revisit the request in two weeks.
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The work is needed to upgrade Aquarion’s water distribution system, which should help reduce leaks and water main breaks.
Currently, Aquarion’s contractor has the new water main installed from Grigg Street up the intersection with Arch Street, according to Jim Dabbo from Snyder. Over the next couple of weeks, work will continue north with water main installation heading toward the East Elm, West Elm intersection.
Water service transfers will also take place in the coming weeks, and areas will be prioritized based on outdoor dining, said Aquarion Project Manager Justin Xenelis. A road closure would take place mainly at locations where side streets are involved, he added.
The idea for the initial 90-day window came from Selectperson Janet Stone McGuigan, who wanted to receive feedback after three months before progressing with the project.
“This is working actually the way we want it to work,” she said Thursday. “We have had some feedback about nighttime noise and lights.”
First Selectman Fred Camillo said he has heard a couple of complaints about noise at night from residents in the Greenwich Avenue area.
In his weekly newsletter to the community last week, Camillo said he spoke with Aquarion and the company assured him that it has reached out to the contractor to make changes that will lessen the noise impact.
With the busy spring and summer months approaching, Camillo on Thursday said he’d like for Aquarion to complete the work before the additional 90-day timeframe is over, should it be ultimately granted.
“Anything you can do to obviously do the job the right way, but also to get it done in the most efficient and effective way and timely fashion as possible would be greatly appreciated,” Camillo said. “I know this would extend into mid-July. We were hoping it would be done a lot sooner than that. Just know that’s a concern from our board and we’re certainly speaking on behalf of the people who live in that area.”
One person who lives and works in that area, Theresa Santos, said dealing with the night work has been “unbearable.”
“You might have gotten a few complaints, but this has impacted all of us on the Avenue. We all understand the work has to get done, but I don’t think unless you’re living there and seeing what’s going on at night, you can’t even comprehend what we’re going through,” said Santos, who works for Apple.
“I’m experiencing, and a lot of people are experiencing, headaches, lack of sleep. Sometimes you can’t even sleep through the night because it’s just literally underneath our windows,” added Santos, who said she even looked at staying at a hotel one night to escape the noise.
Santos said work should be done during the day.
“The main anchor store in that section… is really Apple,” she said. “Otherwise, you have restaurants, you have small boutiques… you have coffee shops. It’s not like it’s going to give a huge impact to these small businesses.”
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Camillo pushed back and said the small businesses are “just as important to us as Apple or any other store.” He said the work is needed.
“There’s no perfect solution. We all grew up here, we’ve all gone through this. It’s painful to hear at night, but the good news is it’s not going to last forever. We’re trying to move these things along as quickly as we can, but there’s no perfect solution,” Camillo said.
Xenelis said the utility company would be amenable to reevaluating the hours of operation.
“We’ll probably set up a meeting with [the Greenwich Department of Public Works] just to have that conversation and see if there’s any possibility of doing some sort of day work,” he said.
“If it doesn’t slow the project down, if you can give them some relief, it would be greatly appreciated,” Camillo responded.
For updates from Aquarion on the project, click here.
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