Map of the homes affected by Robinson Terminal South vibrations. Photo Contributed
Robinson Terminal South is going through demolition, and neighbors say they can feel it. While developer EYA proved that the vibrations from construction work falls within the standard set by City Council, local residents argued that a stricter standard be put in place. On Aug. 19 in City Council’s Sister Cities room, the Ad Hoc Monitoring Group on Waterfront Construction met to bring residents and developers to the same table to discuss the problems.
Katy Cannady, representing the Old Town Civic Association, and several Old Town citizens speaking at the meeting said that the vibrations from the construction were rattling nearby homes. Citizens shared accounts of dishes being broken and doorways damaged. But representatives from developer EYA said the vibrations were expected.
“We said from the beginning that construction will create vibrations,” said Adam Hayes, director of engineering for EYA. “That’s the nature of the work we do. This is in the plan and we follow the plan.”
“It is normal to feel vibrations and [feel] concerns about the impact on your home,” said David Miller, president of Seismic Surveys “But typically, the home can withstand more vibration than the people in it.”
So far, Miller said he was unaware of any claims of damage being filed yet and presented data about vibration levels from the site, but residents say their experiences have been different. Some residents said they’d tried to reach out by phone or email to EYA but were ignored.
“Who cares what the numbers are?” said Bert Ely, co-chair of the Friends of the Alexandria Waterfront, “There are damages.”
“This is about greed, and we need to know if the city is a part of that,” said Nick Kunesh, one of the residents who said his dishes were being rattled by the vibrations coming from the construction site.
Ultimately, members of the Ad Hoc Monitoring Group said they believed EYA needed to do a better job responding to the local community.
“If the developers had been more communicative and helped us understand, you wouldn’t have all these people here,” said Barbara Saperstone, representing the Waterfront Place Homeowner’s Association. “You need to regain our trust.”
Saperstone also said she was wary that once EYA and the neighboring Carr hotel were finished with construction they would be equally unresponsive to claims of damage from homes settling.
Pete Mensinger, special project manager for the Plan Review staff, said the best course of action for both groups would be for the developer to check on what damages already existed in the nearby homes so there wouldn’t be debate later about what was pre-existing.
“We want to make sure we stop and look at the damages to report them now,” said Mensinger. “That way we can create a benchmark of what’s existing now. We need to establish a baseline for current damage. [EYA] will keep a record of seismic activity, so people in homes: record the date and time of damages.
The representatives from EYA agreed to checking homes to establish a baseline for current damages. Ely and other Old Town residents suggested that construction at the site be halted while those surveys were being conducted. Other residents threatened to picket the site and sue the developers.
“I figured this was where it was headed,” said Rex Muller, project manager for EYA LLC. “That someone would say ‘stop development,’ but we can’t. The approval process had an agreed upon standard. If there are people here feeling vibrations or experiencing damage, we want to take care of that, but it’s unrealistic to say that [we should not develop]. That site cannot be developed without people feeling it.”
Mayor Allison Silberberg attended the meeting as an audience member but stepped forward to try and help the group reach a compromise. EYA agreed to publish weekly updates about the seismic activity from the site. The developer also agreed to focus on areas of the project that didn’t involve heavy vibrations until the survey results were collected. After hearing from residents who said their homes adjacent to those covered by current seismological surveys were also being affected, EYA agreed to extend the survey to connected structures.
The next meeting will be held on Sept. 12. Anyone seeking to file a complaint about construction is encourages to call the Help line: 703.746.HELP or use the city’s call.click.connect link on the main city webpage.