By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
MARGATE – What’s that racket again?
It’s becoming impossible for a resident who lives near the Wawa at Atlantic and Washington avenues to get a good night’s sleep. And, no, it’s not the kids hanging out at Club Wa that’s causing the problem, at least not at this time of year.
View from Weinrich’s bedroom window.
Jeff Weinrich, whose bedroom is located catercorner to the 24-7 operation, hasn’t slept a full night without being awakened by noise coming from the convenience store at all hours of the night.
The meteorologist calls it as he sees (or hears) it, and the problem has gotten worse over the last three years. He has made numerous appeals to the Board of Commissioners and city officials to do something to limit middle-of-the-night commercial operations at the Wawa.
“If you were kept up at all hours, how would you deal with it,” he asked commissioners Nov. 16.
City Administrator Ken Mosca said the city has talked with the store’s management team but “we are limited and at their mercy,” he said.
In a response to a request for comment on the problem, a Wawa spokesperson said efforts are being made to correct the issue.
“We have shared the concerns with our supply teams to make sure their delivery times are in compliance and make any modifications if needed,” External Public Relations Supervisor Jennifer Wolf said.
Weinrich, 47, has owned his second-floor corner unit at Adams Terrace Condominium for the last 20 years, has lived there full-time since the pandemic working remotely at his 9-5 job forecasting the weather for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.
“It didn’t seem to be a problem back then, but it has just gotten worse over the years,” he said.
The noise that wakes him up comes from tractor-trailer trucks delivering at the rear of the building. The refrigerated trucks sit there idling for a considerable amount of time, and the unloading of ready-to-eat products, soft drinks and other provisions causes lots of loud banging.
“They come at 11 p.m., 1 a.m., 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.,” he said.
But that’s not all. There’s Waste Management that comes to haul garbage between 5-7 a.m., and the most frustrating thing is the “you’ve got to be kidding me” power-washing of the sidewalk and parking areas that goes on for hours starting 11 p.m.
“I called the police to report it but the power washer just continued to do it,” he said. “I’m at my wit’s end.”
City code in Chapter 192 says the noise level for commercial establishments should not be above 50 decibels between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and 65 decibels at any time. Weinrich said he purchased an inexpensive decibel meter and measured the noise.
“Anything above a conversation is above 50 decibels,” he said. “This is disturbing the peace, and my quality of life is suffering. I tried to go to the city and to Wawa with no consequence.”
He said he does not want to be a nuisance to the city, the police or Wawa, but when Jack & Jill delivers ice cream at 12:30 at night, it’s just too much to bear, he said.
He asked the city two years ago to do something to prevent night-time deliveries, with no result.
Even the local store manager told him he tried to get deliveries at more reasonable hours but there has been no change.
He said he asked the company to post signage, and for vendors to deliver to the front of the building on Washington Avenue, which he believes would muffle the sound a bit, he said.
“Now they are ignoring me,” he said.
Weinrich said he understands that he lives next to a commercial operation and expects some noise, but the noise level is like “blasting a radio” through the night.
“The kids in summer is a whole other issue,” he said. “At one point, you have to ask yourself if Wawa has become a menace to the community.”
Weinrich would like the city to pass a no deliveries at night ordinance.
“We’re considering it,” Mosca said. “But it’s a slippery slope trying to regulate businesses in town. We’re looking at it, but it’s difficult to put something in an ordinance regulating hours for deliveries.”
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