With the construction walls rising at the work site for the Capitol Hill light rail station and tunnels, a major component of Sound Transit’s strategy to complete work on budget and in time for a 2016 start of service is still not in place.

To enable the 24-hour-per-day construction schedules Sound Transit says are necessary to complete the station and tunneling work by 2016, the agency has applied for a crucial set of permissions from the Department of Planning and Development that will allow work at the Broadway site to exceed standard thresholds for nighttime construction noise in the city.

Thursday night, the city is holding a hearing to collect community feedback on Sound Transit’s application. Here are the details on the hearing:

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When:	Thursday, February 11, 2010 06:30 PM – 08:30 PM
Where:	Seattle Central Community College, 1701 Broadway Avenue, Room 1110, Seattle WA.
What:	Sound Transit’s Variance Request The Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) has received an application from Sound Transit for a Major Public Project Construction noise variance from the standards for nighttime construction noise for above-ground construction activities in support of underground tunneling at the Capitol Hill site. Sound Transit proposes to construct twin bored tunnels running from the Capitol Hill Station site located at Broadway and East Denny Way to the Pine Street Station site. This is the central portion of the University Link light rail system which will provide light rail transit service from the University of Washington to downtown Seattle. Public Meeting and Comments DPD is holding one public meeting near the Capitol Hill site to receive oral comments about this proposed Major Public Project Construction noise variance application: When: February 11, 2010 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Where: Seattle Central Community College, 1701 Broadway Avenue, Room 1110, Seattle WA. Written comments may also be submitted to DPD. The comment period ends February 11, 2010. Mail comments to: Department of Planning and Development700 5th Avenue Suite 2000P.O. Box 34019Seattle WA, 98124-4019 Attn: David George Please e-mail comments to: [email protected] or [email protected] Hard copies of the variance application and further information about this permit process may be obtained by calling David George, 206-684-7843 or Jeff Stalter 206-615-1760

The ‘variance’ in this process refers to the amount by which the sound levels can vary from the nighttime measured average for the area. Sound Transit will be seeking a variance for noise levels 6 decibels above average in the area. They say this will bump up levels to something around an ‘ordinary conversation’ according to this table the agency provided:

In addition to Thursday night’s public hearing, there is a DPD review process after one year to make sure any granted variance isn’t causing issues in the neighborhoods.

During the planning for the application, Sound Transit said it first recorded noise levels for the residences on 10th Ave near the construction area at 51 decibels. Sound Transit decided to measure again post-demolition and measured 54 decibels on the new Broadway-exposed 10th Ave. The 6 decibels Sound Transit is asking for will actually bump noise levels up around 10 points from where they were on a night last year.

The Capitol Hill application is also an early test for the city’s newly streamlined process for ‘Major Public Project Construction’ noise variances.