Groton — For Lauren Nichols and her family, the construction going on at Electric Boat's shipyard has been a daily disturbance.

The 35-year-old Nichols, who lives with her husband and two small children on Chapman Street just several hundred feet from where the construction is taking place, said for several weeks now she's been hearing loud noises late in the evening, which have kept her up at night.

Nichols said she has noticed cracks in the foundation of her house that she said did not appear until after construction started. She alerted EB and the company sent over an independent home contractor but the contractor could not confirm for certain that it was due to the construction.

Nichols is among a group of residents, living near the submarine builder, who have complained about the noise to the City of Groton.

Mayor Keith Hedrick said the city is regularly receiving complaints and has been serving as a conduit between residents and EB, which is planning a meeting later this month to discuss the project with residents and city leaders.

"We take the feedback from the city and community seriously and will be inviting the neighbors and a few members of city government to a meeting later this month, like several we have held previously, to discuss project progress, answer questions and address concerns," Liz Power, spokeswoman for EB, said by email.

The company is in the midst of an $850 million expansion of its Groton headquarters, the centerpiece of which will be a new 200,000-square-foot building, where a new class of ballistic missile submarines will be assembled.

Current work involves what is known as drilled shaft activity, to put structural support in place for the new building, which is "expected to be the loudest and most consistent work operation on the project" and is scheduled to be complete by the end of July, Devin Xenelis, director of real estate and project planning at EB, said in a Feb. 27 email to Groton City Planner Dennis Goderre.

EB is operating within the conditions of the permit authorized by the city, which says work must be done between 6 a.m. and 2 a.m. No work can be done on Sundays or holidays. But Hedrick said he is appealing to EB to do the noisiest work during the day, rather than at night. He said he has asked the city attorney to review the permit to ensure the work being done is consistent with what's been authorized.

Prior to the start of the project, residents in the immediate area expressed concerns such as increased traffic, fear that their property values would decrease, the possible loss of their view of the Thames River and New London, and the noise and congestion that come with living next to an active construction site.

EB arranged meetings between the neighbors and project officials as well as a tour of the shipyard, and also offered to buy 12 homes on Eastern Point Road as a way to address the concerns of neighboring homeowners who would be most impacted by its shipyard expansion plans. Of those, the company has purchased eight homes. One offer is pending while two homeowners rejected the offers, and one is in probate. The company also hosted a public meeting in September 2018 to present its expansion plans to the public and solicit feedback.

Nichols and her husband attended that meeting but said since then the company has not prioritized residents' needs. She's been appreciative of the city's response but said she is looking forward to talking to EB directly.

j.bergman@theday.com