Moraga's Noise Ordinance Gets Enforced

While there appear to be some rather large grey areas when it comes to enforcement of Moraga's ordinance restricting start times for area construction sites, neighbors on Donald Drive sought - and got - some relief thanks to Moraga police recently.

For anyone who doesn't know, your contractor, earth mover, jackhammer operator cannot begin work in Moraga before 8 a.m. - period, as much as he or she or you would like them to.

This may come as a shock to a few large-scale projects around town that have gotten off to some notoriously early starts (more on that later) but Chief Robert Priebe and his officers have pledged to uphold the letter of the law and will cite violators large and small.

In fact, officers were summoned to the 2100 block of Donald Drive the morning of Sept. 14 when a construction crew tested the town's ordinance just a wee bit early and cranked things up about an hour ahead of time - lifting a number of people out of their beds.

The officers advised the site supervisor that his crew was violating a Moraga Municipal Code section and stayed on scene until the prescribed start time of 8 a.m. to ensure adherence to the law. The site supervisor said he was not aware you couldn't begin work before 8 a.m. - and apparently he is not the only one, as several other neighbors have noted in other parts of town lately.

Neighbors have complained of 6 a.m. start times on at least one other local construction site this week and expressed hope that the word would get out to those early risers who happen to come equipped with pneumatic drills and earth movers that some courtesy would be appreciated.

According to the town: Construction -- and its associated noises -- may take place in Moraga from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.  If someone doing construction disturbs your sleep at 6:00 a.m., call the Police Department and report the incident to them. They can be reached through dispatch at 284-5010.

We would also ask that you drop an email record of your call and its effect to me here at: jd@patch.com - just so we can watch how this plays out.