STAFF DECISION AND ATTACHMENTS-STF2021-0006 WAVE (2)CITY OF EDMONDS
121 5th Avenue North, Edmonds WA 98020
Phone: 425.771.0220 • Fax: 425.771.0221 • Web: www.edmondswa.gov
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT
Page 1 of 3
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT
NOISE VARIANCE STAFF DECISION
Project: GRE at 23400 Highway 99 – Replace existing overhead cable system with
underground system.
Applicant: WAVE Broadband
File Number: STF2021-0006
Associated Permit(s): ENG2020-0474
Date of Decision: April 28, 2021
Reviewed By: Shane Hope, Development Services Director
Leif Bjorback, Building Official
Jeanie McConnell, Engineering Program Manager
I. INTRODUCTION
The applicant has applied for a noise variance (Attachment 1) for work to be performed on the
evening of May 6th between the hours of 10pm to 5am. Proposed work requires use of the City
right-of-way and therefore, a separate right-of-way construction permit is required.
The following is staff’s analysis and decision on the proposal.
II. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
A. GENERAL INFORMATION
1. Request: The applicant is requesting a noise variance to perform the following work
outside allowable construction hours: De-lash cable from existing poles along Highway
99, take up existing slack pull cable into customer provided (already installed) conduit.
2. Review Process: A noise variance shall be processed as a Type 1 permit procedure
pursuant to ECDC 20.01.003(B) and reviewed in accordance with the criteria found in
ECDC 5.30.120
3. Project Owners: GRE - Edmonds 99
4. Applicant: WAVE Broadband
5. Location: 23400 Highway 99
6. Activities, Equipment and Factors: Refer to Attachment 2
Page 2 of 3
B. PUBLIC CONVENIENCE – Will the work result in significant delays for transportation,
services, or other customer needs if done only during the day and within the hour restrictions
set out in other parts of ECC Chapter 5.30?
The information provided in Attachment 2 indicates significant traffic delays if work is
performed during the day, however, this information has been updated in Attachment 3 to
state the single lane closure already established by the developer is the only closure required
for the proposed night work. Customer needs for the cable service, however, will continue to
be minimized by performing the required work at night.
C. PUBLIC SAFETY – Does working at night significantly improve safety conditions for the
traveling public and/or construction workers?
Night work will result in less vehicular and pedestrian traffic near the job site.
D. PUBLIC EXPOSURE – What will be the setting for any proposed work outside of regular
hours? Is it located on an arterial street or in a mostly residential area?
The work area is located on an arterial street, Highway 99, but there is limited housing within
the area.
E. PUBLIC COSTS – Does a limited amount of authorized work outside of regular hours
established by this chapter save the public significant cost compared to daytime work?
There will be less impact to the public by performing this work at night as internet service
will be temporarily cut off while the transfer from overhead to underground work is
completed.
F. NOISE REDUCTION MEASURES – Have all reasonable steps been taken to reduce the
impact of any necessary noise outside the standard hours?
WAVE has indicated the proposed work will have very limited noise impact on the public.
They have indicated there will be no drilling or any impact type of work. No heavy
equipment will be used. There will be small generators on two small bucket trucks.
III. DECISION
Based on the Findings of Fact and Conclusions, the following decision is issued by the City of
Edmonds Development Services Department. The noise variance, is APPROVED with the
following conditions:
1. The noise variance is limited to work on May 6th 2021 from the hours of 10pm – 5am.
2. Construction activity shall comply with the requirements established under separate right-of-
way construction permit ENG2020-0474.
3. The grant of a variance shall not relieve any person from the requirements of ECC 5.30.130
relating to public disturbance noises.
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IV. APPEALS
Type I permit decisions may be appealed by a party of record to Snohomish County superior
court within 21 days of the date of the decision pursuant to ECDC 20.07.006.
V. PARTIES OF RECORD
City of Edmonds
121 5th Avenue North
Edmonds, WA 98020
WAVE Broadband
Laura Little
llittle@wavebroadband.com
3700 Monte Villa Pkwy, Bothell WA 98021
Bothell, WA 98021
VI. ATTACHMENTS
1. Noise Variance Application
2. Supplemental information
3. Update on Traffic Control
c: File – STF2021-0006
Police Chief
Jeff Whatmore, Engineering Technician
Jennifer Lambert, Engineering Technician
DS Admin
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
WORK HOURS VARIANCE REQUEST FORM
121 5th Avenue N, Edmonds, WA 98020
Phone 425.771.0220 ۩ Fax 425.771.0221
PROJECT NAME:
GRE at 23400 Highway 99
OTHER PERMIT(S) ISSUED FOR PROPOSED
WORK #:
PROJECT ADDRESS:
23400 Highway 99, Edmonds WA.
ENG2020-0474
APPLICANT:
WAVE Broadband
Phone:425-577-2146
Address (Street, City, State, Zip):
3700 Monte Villa Pkwy, Bothell WA 98021
E-Mail:
llittle@wavebroadband.com
PROPERTY OWNER:
Right Of Way work.
Phone:
NA
Address (Street, City, State, Zip):
NA
E-Mail:
NA
CONTACT PERSON: (This person must be available at all times that
extended work is being performed)
Laura Little
Phone:
425-577-2146
Address (Street, City, State, Zip):
3700 Monte Villa Pkwy, Bothell WA 98021
E-Mail:
llittle@wavebroadband.com
CONTRACTOR:
Diversified Northwest
Phone:
206-571-1385
Address (Street, City, State, Zip):
2941 Chestnut St. Everett WA. 98204
E-Mail:
mike@diversifiednw.com
DATES AND TIME OF EXTENDED WORKTIME REQUESTED:
5/6/2021. Hours 10:00PM to 5:00AM.
1 Night only
WA State Contractor License #/Exp. Date:
DIVERNI032D5
City of Edmonds Business License #/Exp. Date:
DETAIL THE SCOPE OF WORK TO BE PERFORMED DURING THE REQUESTED TIMES:
We will be de-lashing cable from existing poles. Taking the existing slack and pulling that cable into customer provided conduit. This work can only be done
at night.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
☐ A RATIONALE FOR THE PROPOSAL SHALL BE SUBMITTED IN ADDITION TO THIS FORM. PLEASE REFER TO THE WORK
HOURS VARIANCE REQUEST HANDOUT WHICH ASKS FOR AN EXPLANATION OF HOW THE ACTIVITIES WILL COMPLY WITH
THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE VARIANCE ORDINANCE.
Print Name: Rob Croston
Signature: Robert Croston Date: 4/15/2021
The purpose of this handout
is to assist the public in
complying with the detailed
permit submittal
requirements. It is not a
complete list of permit or code re
The Code:
Based on ECC 5.30.110 Sounds exempt during daytime hours:
Section B. Sounds originating from temporary construction sites as a result of construction activity are exempt from the provisions of
this chapter, but only during the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays, excluding
Sundays and federal holidays.
5.30.120 Variances.
A. Variances may be granted to any person from any requirement of ECC 5.30.040 (maximum permissible sound levels) or 5.30.110
if findings are made that immediate compliance with such requirement cannot be achieved because of special circumstances
rendering immediate compliance unreasonable in light of economic or physical factors, encroachment upon an existing noise
source or because of non-availability of feasible technology or control methods.
B. Any such variance or renewal thereof shall be granted only for the minimum time period found to be necessary under the facts and
circumstances.
C. Variances shall be processed as a Type 1 permit procedure under ECDC 20.01.003.B, while using the criteria found in subsection
A of this section. Factors to be balanced in the process include those identified as follows:
1. Public convenience – Will the work result in significant delays for transportation, services, or other customer needs if done only
during the day and within the hour restrictions set out in other parts of this chapter?
2. Public Safety – Does working outside of normally allowed times significantly improve safety conditions for the traveling public
and/or construction workers?
3. Public exposure – What will be the setting for any proposed work outside of regular hours? Is it located on an arterial street or in
a mostly residential area?
4. Public cost – Does a limited amount of authorized outside of regular hours established by this chapter save the public
significant cost compared to daytime work?
5. Noise reduction measures -- Have all reasonable steps been taken to reduce the impact of any necessary noise outside the
standard hours? Answering this question needs to include evaluation of (1) limiting the night time or early morning work to only
that necessary to reasonably mitigate the issues identified above, (2) use of quiet generators and quiet pumps (as available),
(3) drilling and placing of piles instead of driving them, as well as use of other techniques, design choices, and acoustic control
equipment and strategies necessary to minimize the night-time or early morning impacts from construction noise.
D. The grant of a variance shall not relieve any person from the requirements of ECC 5.30.130 relating to public disturbance noises.
A Temporary Construction Site is defined as the location of a development-related construction project being performed under a
City-issued permit, where required.
Procedures:
PERMITTING & DEVELOPMENT
B U IL D ING D I V I S I O N
121 5th Avenue N
P: 425.771.0220
www.edmondswa.gov
This handout outlines the level of effort and criteria required for granting
administrative permission to allow private construction activities during
nights and/or weekends under certain circumstances in accordance with
Edmonds Community Code 5.30.110.
REQUIREMENTS FOR
WORK HOURS VARIANCE
For Private Development-related Projects, applications for a noise variance shall be submitted to the Development Services
Department no later than 2 weeks prior to the requested activity, or as otherwise deemed appropriate by the director. An earlier date is
strongly recommended as approval may take longer if necessary information is unclear or missing or the department needs additional
time to consider relevant factors. Applications must be accompanied by documentation and rationale sufficient to identify the date(s)
and time for which the variance is being requested and to demonstrate compliance with the criteria set forth in the ordinance. Most
applications will require the submittal of a site plan as well as a plan as to how notification of impacted neighbors will be addressed. The
director or designee shall render a determination based on the authority under ECC 5.30.120. Approval or denial shall be in writing.
Fees:
The fee amount shall be that as established in the current department fee schedule for a Type 1 Staff Decision (currently $285 which
includes a technology fee) and is payable upon application. Refunds will not be available once a determination has been made,
whether approval or denial.
Wave Broadband, LLC
3700 Monte Villa Pkwy
Bothell, WA 98021
04/15/2021
To whom it may concern,
This note is to explain details and need for a Noise Variance for Highway 99.
C 1. If this work is done during daytime hours there will significant traffic delays as we are
closing a lane off and on during the work period.
C 2. Safety to the public and the employees will be improved greatly by working at night. Less
vehicle traffic, less pedestrian traffic.
C 3. This work is being done on Highway 99. Very limited housing in the area.
C 4. This work will not necessarily save the public money but the project will cut off Internet
service temporarily. Doing it at night will have much less impact of the public.
C 5. The work will have limited noise impact on the public. There will be no drilling or any
impact type of work. No heavy equipment will be used. Small generators on two small bucket
trucks.
During this work we are going to need to interrupt WAVE services to customers in the area to
splice new cables back to the existing. We can only do this work at night to minimize
interruption of services to our customers.
Sincerely.
Rob Croston
Permit Technician 3
From:Robert Croston
To:McConnell, Jeanie; Edmonds Engineering Permits
Subject:Re: Edmonds Night Variance - GRE Hwy 99 ( WAVE)
Date:Tuesday, April 27, 2021 3:00:12 PM
Good Afternoon, Jeanie.
We have had a few developments on this Project since last week. We ended up needing to
temporarily drop the cable onto the ground as the contractor had to move a crane onto the site.
This work has now made the night work we have to do much easier and allows us to workinside the developers/Contractors current buffer zone.
I don't believe we will be needing a TCP now as we aren't closing a lane and will have no
flaggers on site. Again just working within the current buffer zone.
Can you guide me to what I need to do now as we have the approved permit but still need thenight variance.
Please let me know.
Thanks rob
On Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 2:17 PM McConnell, Jeanie <Jeanie.McConnell@edmondswa.gov>
wrote:
Hi Rob,
We are on track with review of the permit to meet the May 7th timeline, assuming the
following traffic control plan comments can be responded to in the next couple of days. Please review the following and provide updated plans as needed or let me know if you have
any questions.
1. The traffic control plan set that was submitted includes a lot of setups that I don’tbelieve are applicable to the work specifically being performed by Wave during the
nighttime work. Please review plan sheets and only provide those that are applicableto the night work being performed at the site.
2. If flaggers are proposed for any portion of the night work then lighting will need to beprovided specifically to light the flaggers “station(s)”.
3. I understand that the development has a construction road along their propertyfrontage that runs parallel to the road. Please review the site closely to determine if
lane closures are even required for the nighttime work or if all work can be done fromwithin the site.
Thank you!
Jeanie
From: Robert Croston <robert.croston@wavebroadband.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2021 6:54 AMTo: Edmonds Engineering Permits <EngineeringPermits@edmondswa.gov>; McConnell,Jeanie <Jeanie.McConnell@edmondswa.gov>; Wayland, Christina<Christina.Wayland@edmondswa.gov>; Laura Little <llittle@wavebroadband.com>Subject: Re: Edmonds Night Variance - GRE Hwy 99 ( WAVE)
Good Morning, Jeanie.
I am checking in to make sure you have all the documents and information you need tomove forward with our Night Variance.
It is critical we are able to complete this work on May 6th.
Thank you,
rob
On Thu, Apr 15, 2021 at 10:37 AM Robert Croston <robert.croston@wavebroadband.com>wrote:
Good morning. I have attached the two documents needed for our night Variance request.
We will be working beginning at 10:00pm on May 6th into the morning hours of May 7th.
Please let me know if there is anything else needed.
thank you,
rob