Residents are being encouraged to provide feedback on proposed noise bylaw amendments, as a result of a quarrel between a dance fitness instructor and a Canadian rock icon.
City administration says amendments to the City of Moose Jaw’s noise bylaw would attempt to balance how loud downtown commercial operations can be with the comfort of nearby residents. City council approved a recommendation during its March 25 executive committee meeting to proceed with the public consultations, with administration authorized to enact any potential amendments from those consultations.
If enacted, the bylaw would include the implementation of maximum allowable decibel levels in commercial zones, according to a city hall news release.
"We appreciate the feedback. All the feedback will help inform what recommendation goes forward to council," Craig Hemingway, communications manager for the City of Moose Jaw, told the Express.
Domestic noise
An amendment to the bylaw would address how loud noise can be for residential units.
The proposed bylaw says if dwelling units are in the same building as commercial premises, or share a common wall or party wall with commercial premises, or if a wall of dwelling units and a wall of commercial premises are flush against one another, then a person in the commercial premises must not make, cause, or permit to be made or cause continuous or non-continuous sound of a radio, TV, player or other sound playback device, public address system, or any other music or voice amplification equipment, musical instrument, whether recorded or live, whether amplified or live.
This would mean (a) between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., the sound must not exceed a rating of 70 decibels (dB); or (b) anytime not included in (a), exceeds a rating of 60 dB. These levels would be in effect when measured on an approved sound meter for a cumulative period of not more than 15 minutes in any hour, in such a dwelling unit, at the point of reception.
An amendment to the building bylaw has also been proposed that would require developers of residential units in the commercial district to soundproof all residential walls that are flush with the commercial property within that building, the news release says. This amendment would only apply to new developments, effective from the day the bylaw goes into effect.
Current noise bylaw
Residential disturbances are covered in the current noise bylaw in sections 4 and 7 under general prohibition.
Section 4(1) says, “Except as may be authorized under this bylaw, no person shall make, continue, permit, or cause to be made, continued or permitted, a noise that a) is unreasonably or unnecessarily louds; or b) unreasonably annoys, disturbs, injures, endangers or distracts from the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of other persons within the city’s limits.”
Section 7 says, “No owner or occupant of a premises in a residential district shall operate or permit to allow to be operated, or play or allow to be played, any instrument, equipment or device that produces, reproduces or amplifies sound, such that the noise or sound can be easily heard by a person who is not in or on the same premises, or by a person residing in a separate dwelling unit within the building form which the sound emanates.”
The potential of using decibel levels as a tool to regulate noise in residential areas has also been suggested, the news release says.
To provide feedback on any or all aspects of the proposed changes to the noise bylaw, the City of Moose Jaw asks residents to send written comments or suggestions about the proposed amendments to planning@moosejaw.ca by Thursday, April 11 at 11:59 p.m.
Or, you can send your comments by regular mail to City of Moose Jaw, Department of Planning and Development, 228 Main Street North, Moose Jaw, Sask., S6H 3J8.
