THOUSAND OAKS : Later Start Ordered for Noisy Builders

Besieged by pre-dawn calls from irate Newbury Park residents, Thousand Oaks officials will require that construction crews building a debris catch basin off Reino Road keep their trucks quiet before 7 a.m.

The debris basin, which will sink about three stories deep along the South Branch Arroyo Conejo stream, is designed to catch silt, sand and rock that may wash off nearby hillsides stripped bare of vegetation by last fall’s wildfires.

Although the basin will not be ready for at least three weeks--until the tail end of this year’s rainy season--it will protect Newbury Park homes for the next few years, until the hillside plants regenerate, said Alex Sheydayi, the county’s deputy director of public works.

Because the contractors building the basin must haul out 70,000 cubic yards of dirt, about two dozen trucks have been working Monday through Saturday, rumbling down Reino Road and through a residential neighborhood.

Work is not supposed to start until 7 a.m., but some truckers line up an hour or two earlier to get a jump on the day and squeeze in an extra load. City Council members Frank Schillo and Judy Lazar both said they had received calls before 5:45 a.m. from residents furious about the noise.

“It’s crazy--the trucks are gathering there and making a lot of noise at 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday,” Schillo said.

In response, City Manager Grant Brimhall and Sheydayi said they would work with the contractor and require all trucks to remain off-site, away from the residential area, until 7 a.m.

“It’s incumbent on the contractor not to bother the neighborhood with that kind of noise at that time of day,” Brimhall said.

Answering other council concerns, Sheydayi promised that the debris basin, when completed, would be surrounded by a fence to prevent children from falling in. He also said the county would landscape the site, planting 10 oak trees for every one removed during construction.