Mineola amends village code to ban most construction work before 8 a.m. on weekdays 

Village trustees in Mineola have passed legislation designed to make mornings much quieter by banning construction work before 8 a.m. 

Mayor Scott Strauss and the board unanimously approved a village code amendment last week12/12 that mirrors legislation already passed in other Long Island communities.

The amendment prohibits excavation, demolition, construction, installation, repair or painting work on the interior or exterior of any structure in a residential zone before 8 a.m. Monday through Friday or before 9 a.m. on weekends and holidays. In industrial zones, no construction work can be performed before 7 a.m. Monday through Friday or before 9 a.m. on weekends and holidays.

Construction must stop after 6 p.m. in both zones, the amendment states, though it allows contractors to petition the building department for emergency cases where they will need to work earlier in the morning or past 6 p.m.

The amendment aims to give residents peace and quiet in the morning and during the dinner hour, said village attorney John Gibbons Jr.

“We have heard many times over the years from residents about being woken up early in the morning and people being bothered by contractors working on building a house,” Strauss said. “We don’t want you woken up at 6 o’clock in the morning.”

Nassau County, Hempstead Town, Oyster Bay Town and North Hempstead Town all have similar time restrictions on construction noise, as do Mineola’s neighboring villages of Williston Park, New Hyde Park, East Williston and Westbury.

Strauss said the village will not place building department staff at every construction site to ensure compliance. Instead, a resident must call the village and file a complaint if they hear noise outside of the designated hours. A summons will be issued to the contractor and the company will have to appear before the village judge, Strauss said.

Any person or contractor looking to do work in Mineola will be told about the new time restrictions from a building department staff member once the applicant receives their building permit, Strauss said.

Mineola resident William Funk said the amendment is welcome news. Funk said a contractor demolished two homes behind his house over the summer and things got loud when “raucous, heavy construction equipment” came in.

“We have a young baby and it’s noisy, so it’s been quite the experience,” Funk said.

Funk, who moved to Mineola in 2010, expressed surprise that Mineola didn’t already have restrictions in place governing construction noise. He said trustees should further tweak the law and ban construction work on Sundays altogether.

“My sense is that there really is more the village can do,” Funk said.