Malta board takes no vote on Sunday construction ban

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

Town officials are backpedaling from a proposal to ban all construction work on Sundays after their draft law was criticized by homeowners and business groups.

The Town Board took no action after a public hearing Wednesday, deciding instead to schedule a workshop on the issue for Nov. 21.

“I think there is a compromise that can be struck,” said Councilman John Hartzell, who reported he himself has had problems putting his 1-year-old to bed on a Sunday night because of nearby bulldozer work.

The proposal to ban construction on Sundays grew from complaints neighbors have made about work hours at the downtown Ellsworth Commons apartment-commercial complex.

“We have construction seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.,” said Barbara Fenton, whose backyard faces the project.

“We’re very frustrated,” said neighbor Patty Heidelmark. “We don’t start our lawn mowers at 6:30 a.m.”

But business interests said they need to be able to work on Sundays, and homeowners said they often only have weekends for their home improvement projects.

“In the attempt to be a perfect, nuisance-free community, you are actually going to hurt the economy,” said Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. “This law will actually hurt small contractors the most.”

Officials from Saratoga Hospital, which is building a new urgent care center at Northway Exit 12, said it needs the freedom to work on Sundays, if it’s going to open the new building by next September.

“A lot of neighbors only have weekends off,” said Maury Crawford, a leader of the Ermine Lair Neighborhood Association in Luther Forest. “To me, it’s government overreach. It should never have had to go this far.”

The law, as drafted, doesn’t make any distinction between large commercial construction and residential home improvement work.