Construction in Takhini North will soon be moving closer to area homes as Castle Rock Enterprises wraps up infrastructure work on the new Rhine Way Road and moves on to Nijmega and Cassino streets.

Castle Rock has the contract with the city to overhaul the water and sewer lines in the neighbourhood and put new ones in on the planned new road. Phase two, planned for next year, will see new lots developed in the area.

At a press conference Monday morning, Castle Rock's operations manager Paul Hutlet told reporters the work is moving ahead as planned, though some changes have been made to accommodate residents.

"Everything's on track," he said.

The company initially opted for a seven-day a week work schedule for the approximately 20-person crew beginning at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 7:30 p.m. to avoid disrupting residents in the later evening.

Hutlet said the schedule has once again been changed. It now begins at 7 a.m. and runs until 7 p.m. after parents of young children expressed concern around the difficulty of putting their kids to bed at the later hour.

The city's bylaws allow work to be done from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The contractor did note in the most recent update for residents delivered last Friday that there may be some evenings where work will have to be done past 7 p.m.

"in order to close open trenches or open a road for traffic flow."

Castle Rock also opted not to start the first part of the work on Normandy Drive, given its closeness to Takhini Elementary School, where students and staff had not yet started summer vacation.

"We're really trying to be proactive in keeping a safe workplace," he said.

Aside from the time work ends during the day, no complaints have come forward to Castle Rock. Hutlet stressed the contractor will try to accommodate any issues that come up.

"Any residents that have any ideas for us, we try and work with them. There's only so much you can do because of the site schedule, but we have made concessions to try and work with them and keep everybody as happy as we can," he said.

Dealing directly with Takhini North residents for Castle Rock is Steve Perrin, who's been assigned the role of community liaison.

Perrin has been going door-to-door each evening with the weekly updates. He has also been getting residents to sign a form that allows the contractor onto their property for the work, which involves hooking up each home to the new water and sewer mains.

"Everybody's been very co-operative," Perrin said.

While each person he's talked to has been willing to sign the form, there have been some cases where residents haven't been home when Perrin has come by and therefore haven't signed the form.

Perrin hopes those who still need to sign the form and book the appointment to discuss work on their property will do so by getting in touch with him at 334-5150.

Meanwhile, Hutlet is reminding residents to make sure their valuables are kept in a safe place where they can't fall if there are vibrations from the work being done.

A lawsuit is proceeding over who is responsible for paying for the work.

City manager Dennis Shewfelt said that is a matter to be dealt with in court and it will not hold up the construction that's set to wrap up in October.

Skookum Asphalt has been contracted for the road surfacing portion of the work.

The entire Takhini North project is budgeted at $9 million, Shewfelt said.