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Construction Keeps Some Cary Residents Up All Night

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Noisy Cary Construction
CARY, N.C. — Construction at a Lowe's Home Improvement store in Cary has been testing neighbors' patience for months.

"It sounds like the earth is moving. My whole house vibrates," Tangie Hofer said. "The ordinance clearly states that they should not start before 7 a.m., but they do. They should not work on Sunday, but they have."

Hofer said now Lowe's has really crossed the line. For the past two nights, she and her family have been jolted out of their beds at 2 a.m.

"There were 49 trucks between the hours of 2:30 a.m. and 7 p.m.," she said.

Hofer is not the only neighbor suffering sleepless nights.

"I just assumed it was morning, but it wasn't. It was in the middle of the night," neighbor Viki Johnson said.

Construction supervisors said they have no choice. They are pouring the concrete floor for the 116,000-square-foot building.

"Once you start, you have to finish completely. That's going to basically be around the clock for four to five days," construction superintendent Martin Cochran said.

"They are not doing anything wrong. They are within the parameters of the noise ordinance," said Lana Hygh, assistant to the Cary town manager.

According to town officials, time restrictions only apply to projects within 300 feet of an occupied residence. Hofer's property line is 305 feet from the Lowe's building, which means she and other neighbors have to grin and bear it.

"It'll all be over Friday and everybody will be happy," Cochran said.

The construction company has offered to put the Hofers up in a hotel for the next couple of nights, but she said that would be more trouble than it is worth.

It is not the first controversy involving the new Lowe's store. Last summer, Carmel Construction got in trouble for clear cutting trees that were supposed to be left in a buffer zone. The company was ordered to pay $40,000 in fines and $87,000 to replace the trees.

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