Construction on the University of New Mexico Student Residence Center stairwells has caused complaints from residents on the lack of advanced notice of the project and early morning noise pollution.
The first stairwell repairs began on buildings D, F and G Dec. 20, 2021 and are scheduled to finish by May, according to project superintendent Manuel Jimenez of ESA Construction, the general contractor hired by UNM.
The Board of Regents approved the three-phase repair project on Aug. 19, 2021 after an inspection found the stairwells to be “very deteriorated and in need of immediate attention for repair and replacement,” according to the Board’s meeting minutes from that day.
The repairs include demolishing the old concrete steps, attaching new metal steps within the original frame and adding a new coat of paint, according to Jimenez.
“(The SRC stairs) are rusty, there’s holes in them (and they have) a few safety concerns,” Aaron Baker, the resident advisor for building D, said. “I know that we need it, but it is inconvenient.”
Multiple SRC residents, including Gavin Moughan, a resident of building F, and Zachary May, a resident of building G, could not remember ever receiving an email from Residence Life and Student Housing notifying them about the construction. Moughan and May were unable to find any such email in their inboxes.
Maddie Gomez, a resident of building D, received just two notices about the construction: a flyer placed inside the apartments over winter break and a Dec. 13 campus-wide email from the UNM Parking and Transportation Office alerting readers that several spots in A-lot would be cordoned off for ESA Construction.
Neither notice included the anticipated May completion date for buildings D, F and G nor the daily construction work hours, which Jimenez said are from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“At some point things have to be replaced and I get that, but it just makes it hard when you weren’t really given much notice and it affects you a lot more than you think it would,” Gomez said.
Construction doesn’t always adhere to this schedule and sometimes starts closer to 7 a.m. or 8 a.m., according to Baker.
“We’ve talked about that a few times with the other staff,” Baker said. “They’re supposed to start at 9, but they oftentimes do not, which I think is the biggest inconvenience.”
Multiple SRC residents, including Gomez, reported sleep disturbances as a result of the daily early morning construction.
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“On top of the noise, shaking and fumes, it makes it really hard to sleep and study,” Gomez said.
Emma Gee, a resident of building F, said the noise is not a problem for her as long as she is not sleeping in.
“I started sleeping off campus a lot more, because it’s hard to sleep here,” said Simon Doneski, a resident of building G. “Because if you go to bed late then you’re just guaranteed to get no sleep.”
Residence Life and Student Housing would be happy to help students change rooms if requested to their RA or hall coordinator, according to UNM Institutional Support Services communications and outreach specialist Sarah Scott. However, Gomez thinks that room changes on an individual basis are an insufficient solution for the issue at hand.
“There’s not exactly any spaces for all of us to move together,” Gomez said. “And they obviously can’t move everybody out of the apartments.”
The middle SRC buildings — B, C, E, H, I and J — are slated for construction in summer 2022 and the east SRC buildings — A, K and L — for fall 2022, according to Scott. Repairs on all 36 stairwells at the SRC buildings are planned to finish by December 2022.
Gabriel Saiz is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @gsaiz83
