6 a.m. start for remediation work at ex-factory site in Batavia?
Workers removing parking lots and contaminated soil at the former Siemens-Furnas site in Batavia may get to start the work extra early.
Aldermen will vote Monday on letting the work start at 6 a.m. on Monday through Friday. Preliminary approval was given Tuesday.
The company had asked for permission to also start at 6 a.m. on Saturdays and 7 a.m. on Sundays, but aldermen did not favor that.
Normally, construction and demolition work can't start before 7 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 8 a.m. on Sundays.
The site is at 1000 McKee St.
Most of the truck traffic will exit and enter from Wilson Street. The work is expected to take at least three months. By starting an hour earlier, the company hopes to have a lot of it done by the time school starts in late August at nearby Batavia High School on Wilson.
They also hope it will reduce congestion during the morning drop-off time at Learning Ladders Children's Center, 1100 W. Wilson St.
Aldermen stressed that workers must follow some rules, and if there are complaints, city administrators are authorized to immediately cancel the extra hour.
Only loading of stockpiled materials will be allowed before 7 a.m., not excavation. Workers are to avoid slamming truck tailgates; not bang excavator buckets to clear materials out of them; and not sound warning horns unless it is an emergency.
Any equipment that has backup beeping alarms is not to be driven in reverse.
Overall, Siemens owns 18 acres between Wilson and McKee, west of Van Nortwick Avenue and McKee. They also leased land for a large parking lot.
The factory closed in 2006. Buildings were torn down in 2009, and foundations were removed in 2014.
The soil contains foundry sands that were used as fill. The sands contain hydrocarbons, with levels too high to permit residential construction over them, according to a 2015 study of the site.