Arlington neighbors petition Amazon to halt noisy HQ2 construction until pandemic is over

by Heather Graf, Tuesday, April 28th 2020

PENTAGON CITY, Va. (ABC7) — For Pentagon City neighbors now working from home in the midst of a global pandemic, it's perhaps the last thing they wanted to hear - noisy pile driving operations, echoing from the construction site where Amazon is currently building its second headquarters.

"It's very loud," said Stephanie Parr. "The repetition and even the vibrations when you get closer to it and can hear it, it is just maddening!"

Parr considers herself one of the lucky ones because her home doesn't directly overlook the project, but she says she still deals with it during her daily walks through Pentagon City.

"If I'm on the phone while I'm walking, it can interrupt the whole conversation," she said. "And with the coronavirus, everything has still been full speed ahead, or it seems to be, with the construction and the noise."

Others say they've had it even worse, calling the piling driving operations "unrelenting."

And with so many people currently working from home, some neighbors feel there is no escaping the sound.

"It woke us up and our walls would shake and we would hear this until like 4 o'clock in the afternoon," said Sue Sy, whose fourth-floor apartment faces the massive construction site.

That's why Sy started an online petition that asks Amazon and its contractor to halt construction on HQ2 until the pandemic is over and Virginia's stay at home order has been lifted.

"There are 8,000 residents here that have to stay home based on the governor's order," she said. "So we don't get any relief from this noise."

The petition describes the unusual circumstances that neighbors now find themselves in as a result of COVID-19:

These are not ordinary times - we are all grappling with the severe shock to our daily lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as many are working from home, and many are with children juggling with competing demands.
Sy said she's not opposed to Amazon or the fact that the company is moving into her neighborhood. But she feels that pressing pause on the project is the right thing to do during these unprecedented times.

"If we were going to work from nine a.m. to five p.m. and kids were going to schools, families would at least get some relief from the construction noise. Now it's like, we have to stay home. So it is incredibly unfair," she said.

Sy started the petition last week. So far, close to 200 of her neighbors have signed it.

The petition also cites health and safety concerns. Sy said she worries that Amazon and Clark Construction are not doing enough to protect both construction workers and community members. An April 23 update posted on the petition website suggests that workers on the job site are not practicing proper social distancing.

"I'm wondering what they are doing to prevent the spread of COVID-19," said Sy. "Why is this work so important? Why can't this wait six weeks so then they can come back to work when this pandemic is over and it's safer for the people that work there as well as their families?"

ABC7 reached out to both Amazon and its contractor, Clark Construction.

On Tuesday evening, Clark Construction provided the following statement:

Being a good neighbor, keeping our workforce safe, and maintaining open lines of communication with the community are our top priorities during the construction of Met Park. Particularly in light of COVID-19, we are working to make sure the project is managed as safely as possible while minimizing disruption. We will continue to provide frequent updates to the Arlington community on our progress, as well as dedicated resources to reach us directly with questions or concerns.

The property located near the the intersection of South Eads Street and 15th Street South is where Amazon is building two 22-story HQ2 towers. Amazon has said it hopes to have both of those office buildings complete by 2023.

Those HQ2 towers will hold about half of the 25,000 employees that Amazon will eventually hire at its second headquarters in Arlington.

On April 15, construction crews began pile driving on the site. Pile driving operations provide temporary structural support for site excavation work. Clark Construction told neighbors its crews will use three rigs to drive 330 piles measuring 60 to 70 feet long across the project site.

On Tuesday night, representatives from Clark Construction spoke at a virtual meeting of the Arlington County Board. They told county board members that pile driving operations were currently about 40 percent complete. They said the work is on pace to wrap up by May 15.

Clark Construction had previously handed out ear plugs to neighboring residential buildings.

Though the project is permitted to work between the hours of 7 am and 9 pm, the contractor has reportedly shortened the hours of pile driving operations to try to minimize noise during the early morning and evening hours.

When Sy reached out to Arlington County, she got a similar response from County Board Chair Libby Garvey.

"We have heard from a number of people about how difficult it is to be home all day during this pandemic and forced to endure this loud construction noise," said Garvey's emailed response to Sy. "The County Board does not have the authority to halt a legally approved project because of associated construction noise. The County has reached out to the project manager about this issue, however, who understands that the piledriving is disruptive for the near neighbors. As a courtesy, he has agreed to start work at the site a little later in the morning -- 8 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. There will be no pile driving on the weekends."

Sy said she is grateful for the county's quick response to her petition, but believes Amazon and Clark Construction are the ones that need to act.

"We'd like them to completely stop pile driving until June 10th," said Sy. "It's definitely a feeling of total disregard for the neighborhood here."

June 10 is the date thru which Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's stay at home order is supposed to last, unless otherwise amended.

Clark Construction has also been providing online updates on the project that include updates on steps being taken to protect its workforce during the COVID-19 crisis. The contractor has said those measures include face coverings for construction workers, increasing the number of handwashing stations on the site, eliminating large group meetings, and "resequencing construction activities" to create greater physical distancing.

To read the full petition asking Amazon and Clark Construction to halt HQ2 construction during the coronavirus pandemic, click here.