LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A good night's sleep is key to our overall health.
It's so important that the City of Las Vegas has limits on loudness to preserve peace and keep communities quiet in the overnight hours.
When a homeowner felt his calls for help about nighttime noise fell on deaf ears, he reached out to Channel 13 and asked: "Darcy, what's the deal?"
The house-shaking jackhammer and mind-numbing suctioning of a rock vacuum are just two of the sleep-shattering sounds invading Jeff McIntosh's east valley neighborhood nearly every night since March 7.
On one of the nights he couldn't sleep, McIntosh confronted the construction crew working on the other side of his fence at Washington Ave. and 21st Street.
"Why don't you guys do it during the day?" he asked. "It ain't hot yet. Come on. It affects people man! All those are houses. It's not the 15," he said during a recording on March 12 at 12:32 a.m. "It's the middle of the night man! What if this was your house?"
The workers didn't respond and the work went on.
He also shared video from his security camera that was taken at 1:25 a.m. on March 14.
"Nobody cares because they don't live here," McIntosh told me. "You're the only one that cares. The fact that I have to call anybody to complain that people are literally setting up heavy equipment in the middle of the night is silly! And no one cares. You're the only one that showed up."
McIntosh says he made countless calls to the city to complain about the nighttime noise, trying to find out why it was allowed.
"For these guys to be sitting around jack-hammering and to start it when people are sleeping, there's a law against that."
Well ... Sort of. City code restricts noise from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. It's illegal to whistle loudly or sing on a public street during those hours if it disturbs "the quiet, comfort or repose" of a residence but construction is bit of a gray area, falling into a set of conditioned exceptions.
City code says construction or repair of any right-of-way improvements in a residential district shouldn't start before 7 a.m. and should stop by 6 p.m., "except in the case of urgent necessity in the interest of public health and safety and then, only with a permit from a designated official."
13 Investigates learned the city did grant Tilson Tech an overnight work permit to install high-speed internet fiber lines in the area around McIntosh's neighborhood.
Tilson says it's part of a larger project to upgrade communications infrastructure in some of the city's oldest neighborhoods.
The city says the traffic on that stretch of Washington, combined with the proximity of nearby schools and lane closures, meant that doing the work overnight seemed like the best option to get it done quickly and they hoped the work would not disturb neighbors in the overnight hours.
"How is this affecting you and your family," I asked McIntosh.
"Do you go to bed at night," he responded. "We're not allowed to. I mean, there's a jackhammer literally outside."
In a statement, Tilson said: "We routinely inform residents about upcoming work on their streets prior to construction. Though construction is temporary, we appreciate how construction zone work could negatively impact normal routines."
McIntosh says the only notification he got was the rude awakening of a jackhammer on the night construction started.
But as we were talking, we learned it may be coming to an end.
"No more nights," called a worker as he walked by McIntosh's house while we were there.
We tried to ask him some questions but he did not respond. So we checked with the city and learned that after we started asking questions, the permit had been changed so that work now can only take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. so as not to bother neighbors during the overnight hours.
Full statement from Tilson:
"Gigapower, and our construction partners Tilson, follow all applicable laws for the City of Las Vegas. The construction work is in accordance with permits approved by the city of Las Vegas.
Tilson has followed the approved permits and has regular communication with City Hall in both the Public Works Office as well as with Councilwoman Olivia Diaz to ensure project transparency.
We are committed to being good community partners and appreciate patience with construction as we bring high speed fiber to the residents of Las Vegas.
We were working restricted night hours based on the high traffic nature of the street in question. Day/night work balance is something that the city aims to reach regarding the disruption of traffic and impact to residents, Tilson works with the City to ensure we operate within their guidelines given to us through the permitting process.
With regards to resident notifications, Tilson uses door hangers as well as having team members notify residents prior to construction in every work area. We recognize that not every resident may be at their house when we attempt to contact them however, we still attempt to contact every resident within the pending work zones.
Tilson started construction in June 2023 to bring major upgrades to communications infrastructure in some of the oldest neighborhoods in the city.
In addition to building a new fiber network, Tilson has added close to 300 jobs to the Southern Nevada workforce.
Construction on Washington and 21st Street has been moved to daylight hours and will be completed by Wednesday, March 20th."
