Jackhammering at legislature grounds will end at 9 p.m. after complaints from residents: province

An Edmonton woman says construction noise from the legislature grounds has been keeping her up at night.

The province is currently in the process of rehabilitating the legislature grounds and putting in a new water feature.

The work includes tearing up the existing concrete pool at the north end of the grounds and renovating the other existing pools.

Nicolette Little lives across the street from the legislature. She says construction has been going on until 3 or 4 a.m.

"Around June 20 I woke up around 1 in the morning and there was jackhammering, and just a whole bunch of noise. I looked out the window and there was obviously a lot of construction going on down at the legislature," she told CTV News Edmonton. "I was willing to pass on by, but then it went on until 2 in the morning, and 3 in the morning, and 4 in the morning, and ended up keeping me up all night."

She posted a video to social media that night that shows the legislature building in darkness with the sound of jackhammering.

"It's frustrating. I had to drive three hours to Calgary the next day for a conference, so I was obviously trying to get my sleep."

"People need their sleep. It's just mission critical for health."

In an email to CTV News Edmonton, a spokesperson for the province said the city had initially granted a permit to Alberta Infrastructure to extend work hours for the project, but some of the construction will now cease earlier in the evening.

"After follow-up conversations with the city, an agreement has been made to stop jackhammering and concrete-breaking by 9 p.m. each day," Benji Smith wrote.

Smith said the change is effective immediately.

While Little is happy to hear the jackhammering will stop, she wants all construction at the site to end by 9 p.m.

"Recently I've been kept up as well with the machinery backing up with the 'beep, beep, beep' noises. They're still dropping things at 1 in the morning, 2 in the morning," she said.

"So that’s a great step, but the residents around here are still going to hear a lot of things and be woken up, unfortunately."

She is also asking why the permit was granted in the first place.

"Who kind of makes that call that it’s OK for residents to be kept up?"

"I think that for a fountain it’s not really a valid reason."

The province says demolition should be done in a few weeks, adding the permit was requested in an effort to get the space open to the public as early as possible.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jessica Robb