A Marion County judge ruled Monday to halt Monroe County’s noise ordinance in a case against the Indiana Department of Transportation, a decision which county citizens may lose sleep over.
INDOT took Monroe County to court this past week in response to a noise ordinance they said inhibits Interstate 69 construction efforts. The county passed the ordinance in June in response to the complaints of citizens who claimed they were unable to sleep because of late night construction work. The ordinance prohibited disruptive work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Violators can be fined up to $7,500.
The crew has been working on the fourth section of I-69, which runs from Green County to Bloomington, Ind. It would connect to the already-built section of the highway in Evansville, Ind., to highway 37 in ?Bloomington.
The construction of the highway is already behind schedule, Monroe County attorney David Schilling said. Schilling represented the county in the INDOT lawsuit. This put pressure on the crews to work late at night.
“The commissioners believe there are ways to conduct these activities in a manner that is not quite as noisy and uses an alternative schedule,” Schilling said.
However, the state can do what it wants as of now, he said.
Schilling said the point of the ordinance was to make sure citizens whose homes were near the construction would get consideration in the project.
Counties sometimes make small ordinances such as this, he said, to affect state-regulated activities, Schilling said. This is evident in county-regulated speeding limits and bridge weight limits, he said.
“But we all agree that we can’t prohibit the state from meeting their objectives,” he said. “The commissioners weren’t of the opinion that the ordinance did that.”
The judge disagreed.
Schilling also said the importance of the highway construction isn’t clear to everyone.
“I think there is a lot of reservations and uncertainty as far as the value of I-69 would have to the community,” he said.
However, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence stresses the economic impact of the highway completion, saying it will bring tourism to cities and create jobs in construction.
At $250 million, the Hoosier Environmental Council said the I-69 construction takes money away from other important projects.
The Monroe County Board of Commissioners will have a closed meeting Tuesday to discuss the next step they will take in either pursuing the lawsuit or dealing with the problem another way. A public meeting to decide on an action will be held afterward.
