Some Arlington residents up-in-arms over Amazon construction noise
By Anne Cutler, Arlington County, FOX 5 DC

ARLINGTON, Va. - Despite stay-at-home orders for most DMV residents, construction is one industry that has kept going through the coronavirus pandemic.

But a group of Northern Virginia residents wants one major construction project stopped – the new Amazon HQ2 project.

The project was welcomed by Arlington County, the state of Virginia and most residents with open arms.

But a project of that size brings a fair share of noise – and some residents aren’t happy with it.

A group of Arlington residents recently created a Change.org petition demanding that the construction cease until the state’s stay-at-home order is lifted.

Their petition currently has about 250 signatures.

The petition says:

“Under ordinary times, the work by Clark Construction in Arlington County to build HQ2 can be considered excessive, unreasonable and unsafe.”

But these are no ordinary times.

In addition to the noise, the residents believe the construction presents a public safety risk, including potential COVID-19 exposure.

The county board is responding to the citizens’ complaints, but they’ve opted to move ahead with the project.

In addition to the current construction project, they’ve voted to approve the use of two nearby parks as staging areas.

 “Now that many people are home during the day, it is especially difficult for them to tolerate the noise and disruption of construction,” said Arlington County board chair Libby Garvey.

“I am pleased that a number of people spoke about their concerns, and we were able to address many of them. We received commitments to keep trash out of the park, and to keep most of the park in its current condition. This means people can continue to use the park as they have been while a small portion is taken for staging,” she added.

According to the county, the parks will be used for construction trailers, parking, and pump equipment.

One of them will also be used for concrete batching.

These staging areas can remain in place for up to three years – when the massive tower project is expected to be finished.