Businesses in Snohomish must follow new quiet times

Published 1:30 am Sunday, September 30, 2018

SNOHOMISH — Suzanne Davis noticed the noise as soon as she moved in.

“I thought I’d get used to it within six months,” she said. “I didn’t.”

It’s now been 13 years.

Davis lives in an apartment near the Haggen grocery store and post office on Avenue D. Unloading trucks had kept her awake at all hours of the night. She would hear the rigs backing up and beeping, drivers talking and doors slamming.

“I had given up on getting sleep,” she said.

She got together with another group who had the same problem. They lived about a mile away from Davis, near the Snohomish Station shopping center on Bickford Avenue. They started voicing their concerns a couple of years ago, in hopes that city leaders would do something. There was no law stopping businesses in the city from being noisy.

The Snohomish City Council earlier this month voted unanimously to update the city’s noise laws.

Quiet times have been set between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. People can’t use loud vehicles and equipment during that window unless it’s an emergency.

Davis and her friend, Cheryl Mazurek, were at the City Council meeting.

“It was rather tense,” Davis said.

Lawyers, managers and district directors from The Home Depot and Kohl’s department stores were there. Each of the businesses have locations in Snohomish Station.

A Home Depot manager said they’ve made adjustments in an effort to be better neighbors. The store receives shipments of drywall between 4 and 6 a.m. They started using quieter delivery equipment. The shipments must be made before the store opens at 6 a.m., so customers aren’t around to get hurt.

Council members said they didn’t have a problem with that as long as there weren’t any complaints.

The other stores had similar safety concerns.

In the end, the ordinance was passed. So far, Davis has noticed a difference.

“Haggen has done a pretty doggone good job of complying,” she said.

She can still hear the post office every couple of hours at night. She’s tried to talk to them about it, but it hasn’t helped, she said.

Stephanie Davey: 425-339-3192; sdavey@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @stephrdavey.