‘We’re trying to be good neighbors:’ Sawmill responds to complaints, petition against night work

Work first began in the summer of 2022 on the Tahoe Forest Products Saw Mill, which is still busy constructing its mill on Washoe Tribal Land behind the Topsy Lane shopping center — with work continuing throughout the night.

A year later, residents living nearby have started a petition asking for all nighttime work to cease which, according to Kevin Leary and Jim Turner of TFP, would only prolong the work.

In fact, Turner said this season’s construction will be finished in the next few weeks, with the last pieces of the mill going into place.

“Doing some work at night minimizes the total construction schedule instead of having it go on for several more months,” Leary said. “It’s a rip-off-the-bandaid approach.”

Even though TFP plans to finish construction of the mill by the second or third week of September, the site will still look and sound like an active construction site — just no longer at nighttime.

“Eighty percent of construction was for the saw mill,” Leary said. “Next year we’ll be constructing the second smaller phase of the mill which is the kiln and planer mill, a much lighter construction project."

TFP acknowledges the frustration of the neighbors, Leary said, and living next to a construction site is never fun.

“We are doing everything we can to mitigate our presence,” Leary said. “We can’t please everybody but we are trying to be good neighbors.”

Mitigation efforts have been extensive, Leary said, after many discussions with the three to four residences along the fence line with the property.

These efforts include swapping water trucks, which neighbors said were loud and disruptive, for sprinkler systems, modifying lighting so construction lights wouldn’t face homes, and more.

“I feel reasonably confident the neighbors aren’t going to be hearing jarring nighttime noises (once construction is complete),” Leary said. “But one important point to make is this is not an empty sagebrush field anymore. There’s a certain subset of people who will never be happy.”

However, Leary said that nighttime noise can be disruptive.

“I’m not trying to dismiss them; I know it’s annoying hearing a sledgehammer swinging into steel, but that’s a temporary phenomenon,” Leary said. “Longterm nighttime noise from the mill will be a low hum, similar to a white noise machine or a clothes dryer in the distance.”

Turner said that he has been actively responding to all emails from neighbors complaining of noise and explaining what is going on at the property.

“I brought them on site and showed them what we do,” Turner said. “When we made a lot of changes with lighting and the water trucks, they said it helped. But they also want zero noise.”

When asked if residents are aware nighttime construction will end in a few weeks, Leary said they were told.

However, according to News 4, over 140 residents have signed a petition asking TFP to cease all nighttime construction between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 p.m.

While Carson City and Douglas County do have noise ordinances, TFP is being built on Washoe Tribal Land property, which means neither Carson nor Douglas have jurisdiction to enforce quiet hours.

“Living or being next to a construction site is always disruptive,” Leary said. “But we are confident that the 2023 construction season will be over this month.