POLICY REPORT
ENVIRONMENT
Date: February 26, 2001
Author/Local: D. Losito/714-5677
RTS No. 01586
CC File No. 3755
CS&B: April 26, 2001
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TO: |
Standing Committee on City Services & Budgets |
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FROM: |
Director of Environmental Health |
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SUBJECT: |
Noise By-law Amendments - Controlling Music Noise Levels From Entertainment Facilities |
RECOMMENDATIONS
A. THAT the Noise By-law be amended to incorporate the measures proposed within this report to better control excessive noise from cabarets and other entertainment facilities where music is played.
B. THAT the Noise By-law be amended to set minimum fines for offences by commercial establishments playing excessively loud music at $500 and to allow for the issuance of offence tickets under the Noise By-law.
C. THAT the Director of Planning, in consultation with the Director of Legal Services, report back on the option of including acoustical provisions, including maximum interior noise levels enforced by automated control systems, in time-limited Development Permits in noise-sensitive areas.
D. THAT the Director of Legal Services report back on any necessary Vancouver Charter amendments to enable Council to incorporate maximum interior noise levels in the Noise By-law.
E. THAT the Director of Legal Services report back with the necessary by-law amendments to implement these recommendations.
F. THAT Planning staff works with the Director of Environmental Health to incorporate the acoustical design criteria recommended in this report.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager, Community Services RECOMMENDS APPROVAL of A to F.
COMMENTS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF CURRENT PLANNING
The Council-approved Central Area Plan seeks to create "An Alive Downtown" that is vibrant and offers a wide variety of entertainment, while at the same time creating highly livable neighbourhoods. This calls for striking a balance between the reduction of noise impacts on residential buildings from entertainment facilities (e.g. cabarets) and encouraging an array of nightlife. To this end, Council has approved an entertainment district on Granville Street between Nelson and Georgia Streets. In the spring as directed by Council, staff will be reporting back on mechanisms for notifying residents living on blocks adjacent the entertainment districts that there will likely be noise impacts from the entertainment district. Further, staff are now considering the identification of one or two other areas where entertainment and nightlife activities could be located where noise impacts on nearby residential buildings can be minimized.
COUNCIL POLICY
On May 27, 1997 City Council received the Urban Noise Task Force report on City Noise and adopted recommendations 32.1 through 32.6, which dealt with excessive noise from cabarets and similar commercial establishments. Specifically Recommendation 32.1 called for maximum noise levels to be set for within entertainment facilities which would result in acceptable noise levels in the community; Recommendation 32.2 called for an increase in minimum fines against offending entertainment facilities; Recommendation 32.3 called for stricter noise insulation requirements for cabarets while 32.5 called for adjacent new residential development to incorporate adequate sound isolation; Recommendation 32.4 asked the Environmental Health Division to evaluate other ways of monitoring bass noise and Recommendation 32.6 called for consistent noise level warning signs to be used.
In 1998 Council deliberated over the recommendations from the Director of Planning to incorporate signage and notification requirements for new residential development adjacent to the Entertainment District with a view to tempering expectations of new and future residents with respect to the acoustical environment.
SUMMARY
Amendments to the Noise By-law provisions governing amplified music from commercial establishments are recommended to address increasing complaints about the intrusion of entertainment noise into residential dwellings. New provisions are put forward to set maximum noise levels emanating from these establishments as well as resultant noise levels within residential space within the same structure or immediately adjacent to theseestablishments. In addition, recommendations are made to increase fines, allow for by-law ticketing and establish pre-approval and operating criteria for the interior noise levels within these facilities. Finally, Law and Planning are asked to report back on the mechanisms necessary to establish maximum interior noise levels for entertainment facilities as a way of further ensuring compliance with community noise standards.
PURPOSE
This report is intended to address a growing number of concerns related to noise impacts on residential buildings from neighbouring cabarets and entertainment facilities, especially in the downtown, Yaletown and Gastown area. Council is being asked to endorse amendments to the City's Noise by-law.
BACKGROUND
In the past 5 to 10 years, the development of the downtown area, with the emphasis on mixed use, has generated a fair amount of conflict between the existing entertainment establishments and nearby residential developments. One such conflict involves the impacts of excessively loud music and patron noise disturbances associated with cabarets, pubs and other entertainment facilities. Council and staff have had to deal with a number of these situations over the past 10 years. Unfortunately, a long-term solution has not been realized. Work is underway toward preventing or at least minimizing such conflicts between the establishments located within the Entertainment District and adjacent future residential developments.
Council and the general public look to the Noise By-law for solutions to what is seen as primarily a noise problem. Section 6A of the Noise by-law was recently added to address the problems of noise which are virtually inevitable when residents locate in close proximity to a commercial or activity zone. The City, through its present mandate under the by-law, is finding it increasingly difficult to resolve the conflict, with the new residents demanding peace and quiet and the commercial entity asserting its right to carry on business.
One of the major contributors to the problem is that most existing entertainment facilities were not constructed to keep the noise within the confines of their own four walls, compounded by the fact that music is being played at alarmingly high and unhealthy levels (often exceeding 100 decibels within the clubs). Even with good modern construction the bass beat is difficult to contain within the structure due to the low frequency/long wavelength of bass tones. Unfortunately, the increasing prevalence of heavy bass in cabarets constitutes the major source of annoyance with an inordinate amount of staff time being spent on trying to resolve this growing problem.
Several cabarets in the downtown area and Gastown constantly require the efforts of the police, liquor inspectors, Permits and Licenses and Environmental Health to resolve the complaints. Efforts directed at getting the operators to moderate the volume of the music have usually resulted in failure. An increasing number of restaurants are providing amplified music (e.g. karaoke) in the vicinity of residential dwellings. The prospect of additional amplified entertainment in restaurants, under revised liquor licensing policies, points to the necessity of better regulatory controls over noise levels from these establishments.
DISCUSSION
The nature of the noise problems impacting on residents living in the vicinity of cabarets has its roots in land use and licensing decisions. Therefore, regulatory solutions within the Noise By-law should not be viewed as a panacea, meant to resolve once and for all the inherent conflict of uses. Once adopted and implemented they must be administered in concert with other solutions such as the mandatory notification of new residents of the existence of a noise source in the vicinity and the active enforcement of liquor regulations and business license expectations. In addition, regulatory solutions impact not only on the minority of the establishments that are generating the majority of the complaints, but potentially on new and existing, conforming establishments. Therefore, regulatory options need to reflect a balancing of responsibilities and expectations. During a recent Council discussion on mandatory signage and advisories for new residential developments adjacent to the Entertainment District, a concern was expressed about giving clubs a "carte blanche" to make noise. Tightening up the Noise By-law at the same time as the signage requirements are implemented should help to address these concerns by clearly setting out the City's expectations for noise control by club management.
Staff has reviewed the wording of the existing by-law and the recommendations of the Urban Noise Task Force and has formulated a number of amendments that should address this balancing of responsibilities and expectations. Draft language for these amendments is contained as Appendix A. Staff has reviewed the practicality and application of these amendments with acoustical consultants familiar with the entertainment noise problem and has had initial discussions with the Cabaret Owners' Association and interested residents' associations. Two major amendments are recommended, one to address the issue of amplified music impacting on the surrounding neighbourhood and the other to address amplified music impacting on residents within the same building or sharing a common wall. In addition, recommendations are made to increase the minimum fine to $500 for commercial enterprises violating the noise level provisions of the Noise By-law and to establish these "entertainment noise" provisions as ticketable offences under the Noise by-law. The following points, contained for illustrative purposes in Appendix A, are intended to address the major noise issues identified:
1. The first amendment is intended to address the control of music levels as they are heard in the community, typically in neighbouring residential accommodation. The underlying principle or objective is that the sound created by the entertainment facility should be retained within the four walls and ceiling of the establishment. For example, some municipal by-laws stipulate that no sounds (from music) originating in an entertainment facility should be audible in a residential building 150 feet (or more) from the source.The proposed changes would require that the noise level be measured at or near the point of reception (usually near where the receiver/complainant lives) and that the measurements utilize the Leq or Equivalent Energy Sound Level measured over 3 minutes. The Leq measures the average noise level measured over a set period of time and is used as a reliable community noise indicator.
The "test" for compliance would require that the environmental health officer take a similar noise measurement in the absence of the offending music and that there would need to be a minimum of a 3 decibel difference between the ambient sound level and the measured music level to proceed with enforcement. In the alternate, Council could establish "assumed" ambient noise levels by category of land use. In an earlier draft, staff had proposed a 50-decibel (Leq) sound level limit at 5 metres from the establishment, which would have resulted in an estimated 35 decibel level at the façade of a neighbouring residential building 30 metres from the establishment. Feedback from acoustical consultants indicated that both the originating 50 dBA and the resultant 35 dBA would be unusually low for an urban environment and that it would prove challenging to actually measure the contribution of the music source over typical background levels. In light of these comments, and verification against actual background noise readings in the downtown area, staff then considered recommending that a limit of 55 decibels (Leq) should be established to be measured at the point of reception, usually the impacted building.
Considering the background Leq noise levels measured downtown (see Appendix C) it was concluded that even the 55 decibels would be difficult to measure or enforce. An alternative approach was finally settled on, which would involve setting the maximum noise level from amplified music at 3 decibels (Leq) above the normal background Leq. Three decibels is typically the smallest increase that can be perceived by a receiver and also allows for a margin of error in measurement.
2. The second proposed change would set a maximum noise level of 45 dBA (Leq 3 minutes) at night (50 dBA daytime) measured in a bedroom in the residential component, for noise from a music source received in the same structure or in a residential use immediately adjacent to the source establishment. This level is consistent with measures included in noise ordinances in the U.S. (e.g. New York) and would provide significant improvements over current interior levels permitted under the by-law (e.g. 65 decibels in Activity Zones).
3. The third amendment proposes to retain the current provision dealing with the "bass" beat, with clarification that these levels will also be measured using the 3 minute Leq. Although staff had considered revising the existing "bass" tone section of the by-law a suitable, reliable replacement methodology was not found. The existing Section 11 was intended to evaluate and control bass beat, but has not performed satisfactorily in real world situations. It is often difficult to discern the bass levels attributable to amplified music from the general "urban hum" and other sources of bass. Staff believes that the proposed general noise level limits, if adopted, should result in equivalent reductions in the "bass" levels. This was confirmed in the studies previously alluded to and reported in Appendix B. That is, moderating interior noise levels to around 90-95 decibels should result in fewer concerns about "bass" beat and correspondingly lower bass levels in the community. In the alternate the by-law could contain a provision, replacing Section 11, that would set a maximum sound level in the 63 Hz and 125 Hz Octave bands (the typical bass frequencies) of 95 decibels measured within the club. Additional noise monitoring equipment would be required to carry out the octave band analysis. Staff is recommending that this latter option be revisited should the other proposed amendments prove to have little or no impact on bass noise levels in the community. In the interim staff is recommending that the current by-law requirements of 70 dBC daytime and 65 dBC nighttime for bass noise levels at the point of reception be maintained, but be measured as Leq - 3 minutes.
4. Consequential amendments to add definitions of "music", "maximum interior noise level", "background noise level" and "Leq" are recommended.
Interior Noise Levels:
Staff gave careful consideration to adding a new section, which would establish maximum interior sound levels for entertainment facilities, thereby ensuring that sound levels transmitted into the community and neighbouring residences would be minimized. The inclusion of such a provision recognizes the limitations of existing building envelopes to retain extremely high noise levels within the club. Surveys carried out by Environmental Health (see Appendix B) have consistently shown that interior noise levels of 85 to 90 dBA seldom result in adverse impacts in the community, with outdoor levels often below 50 decibels. However, as interior levels exceed 100 decibels, they tax the noise isolation capabilities of even modern construction methods. The proposed approach would have required the evaluation of existing establishments to determine what interior noise level would need to be established to prevent violations of the community noise level criteria. This could be further formalized by legally establishing this as the maximum interior noise level (e.g. through an authorization by the Medical Health Officer or perhaps an endorsement on the liquor license for the establishment). For new clubs, staff would require the applicant to submit an acoustical report, which would establish the necessary building envelope standards to meet the by-law requirements, thereby establishing the maximum design interior sound level.
A consequential benefit of applying a maximum interior noise level is largely a public and occupational health one - regular (unprotected) exposure to noise levels over 85 decibels results in premature hearing loss and other adverse hearing effects. Over 30% of young people entering the work place exhibit significant hearing loss. Given that employees of cabarets are often exposed to 100 - 110 decibel noise levels without the benefit of hearing protection, the application of this section may provide some relief for employees of the noisier clubs.
Staff had also entertained the notion of enforcing the Noise By-law limits for new establishments by incorporating the interior noise level provision into performance standards under time-limited development permits and/or Good Neighbour agreements. Repeated non-compliance could lead to non-renewal of the development permit. The interior noise levels could be further controlled by requiring all new clubs to install sound level limiting devices on their equipment as a condition of their development permit. These devices, already in use in some jurisdictions, would warn the management with an amber light as interior sound levels approached some pre-set level (e.g. 90 decibels) and would cut off the sound above a maximum level determined by the sound reduction capabilities of the building envelope (e.g. 95 decibels).
The Law Department has advised that the interior noise level provisions contemplated in the previous section go beyond the powers provided for in the Vancouver Charter. At this point staff is recommending that the Planning Department and Law Department be asked to report back on the logistics of including conditions such as these into time-limited development permits for new entertainment facilities. In the alternate, staff may want to explore the potential of utilizing the new liquor licensing provisions to regulate interior noise levels in a similar manner, by way of an endorsement on the liquor license. Further, the Law Department should be asked to report back on the necessary Vancouver Charter amendments that would enable the establishment of maximum interior sound levels under the Noise By-law.
Preventive Planning and Enforcement:
It goes without saying that prevention is a valuable strategy that needs to play a part in resolving (avoiding) problems related to entertainment noise. When new establishments are proposed they have normally been required to submit acoustical consultant's reports for review by Environmental Health and ultimate incorporation into the building design. This policy needs to be stringently adhered to and, in all likelihood, amended to require mandatory air conditioning of entertainment facilities and the special treatment of any windows, skylights and exit doors. In addition, the applicant should be required to submit a pre-opening acoustical report, completed by an acoustical engineer, verifying that the facility has been built to their recommendations and achieves compliance with the by-law. Furthermore, the application/licensing process should take into account whether the venue is intended for live music performances, which tend to be louder and more challenging to control, especially in noise sensitive areas. Staff is recommending that venues offering livemusic should not be located in noise sensitive areas, especially in structures that have less than optimal noise isolation.
Finally, and at the other end of the "enforcement continuum" from prevention strategies, staff need a broad range of tools to effect compliance. The Urban Noise Task Force recommended, and Council previously endorsed, the need to increase minimum fine levels for commercial operators to $500 to preclude fines becoming a "cost of doing business" and the need to implement a municipal ticketing approach to enforcement of Noise By-law infractions. The Noise By-law currently contains a provision (Section 20.3) which set higher minimum fine levels ($500) for commercial enterprises found guilty of violating the construction and refuse collection limits of the by-law. These changes are once again recommended in this report, with a request that the Director of Legal Services proceed expeditiously with their implementation.
Concerns have been expressed about the potential of the new Noise By-law provisions further impacting on the "liveliness" of the City. The Noise By-law attempts to strike a balance between livability and liveliness. Enforcement of the Noise By-law is based on response to complaints. If an establishment is located in an exclusively commercial/industrial area or an Entertainment District and is not generating complaints, even though the noise levels being produced exceed the levels proposed in this report, there would be no need for enforcement.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Implementation of the recommendations should result in a more livable acoustic environment, especially in those zones where entertainment venues and residential uses are in close proximity.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS
This report has not identified the need for additional staff resources, but, in general, the enforcement of the Noise By-law is requiring increased commitment of resources by the Environmental Health Program of the V/RHB. Discussions are underway with the General Manager of Community Services to determine the expected enforcement level and resources required from the V/RHB to deal with noise issues and to identify options for achieving these expectations. Staff will be focussing first on efficiencies within existing staff levels.
IMPLEMENTATION and COMMUNICATION PLAN
Staff will work with the Cabaret Owners' Association, Bar Watch, Resident's Associations and others to ensure general awareness of the new provisions. A phase in period for existing operations will likely be required. Any new applications should incorporate the new requirements immediately.
CONCLUSION
Excessive noise from entertainment establishments is high on the list of annoyances for city residents. This report recommends a series of by-law amendments, which should better address the control of amplified music from entertainment establishments while establishing reasonable community expectations for an urban noise environment in the vicinity of these facilities. Staff believes that the proposed changes will go a long way to addressing the community impacts of noise from commercial establishments where music is played. It will not address the issue of patron noise, which is especially pronounced around closing time. Other administrative and enforcement initiatives, such as staggered closing and better management of access and egress will have to be pursued to control patron noise.
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Appendix A
Suggested wording for by-law amendments. Actual legal wording to be determined by the Law Department.
1. Add a new section to read: "No person, being the operator of a commercial establishment where music is played shall permit or allow music to be played within such establishment which results in a noise level which exceeds the background sound level (3 minute Leq) by 3 decibels or more, when measured on an approved sound level meter at a point of reception."
2. Add a new section to read: "No person, being the operator of a commercial establishment where music is played and which is located within the same structure as, or adjacent to living accommodations, shall permit the music or other noise levels emanating from such activities to exceed 50 dBA (Leq 3min) during the daytime or 45 dBA (Leq 3min) during the nighttime when measured at a point of reception (within the structure) on an approved sound level meter."
3. Amend section 11 to refer to the dBC levels of 70 daytime and 65 nighttime in terms of 3 minute Leq readings.
4. Miscellaneous amendments may be required to address definitions of "music", "maximum interior noise level", "background noise level" and "Leq".
APPENDIX B
SUMMARY OF AMPLIFIED MUSIC READINGS IN GASTOWN
CLUB |
DATE |
LOCATION |
SOUND LEVEL
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Club Elite
|
09/22/95 |
Dance Floor
|
85-87 dBA
|
Club Elite |
09/29/95 |
Hallway above |
52.5 -56.5 dBA |
Club Elite |
11/02/96 |
Inside Club
|
90-100 dBA
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Club Elite |
02/13/97 |
Inside Club
|
98-100 dBC
|
Club Elite |
07/05/97 |
Inside Club
|
97-100 dBA
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Club UFO - 7 Alexander |
04/17/97 |
In Club
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100-102 dBA
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Club UFO |
09/26/97 |
Unit #203 Music on (#1)
|
59 -62 dBC
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Club UFO |
02/13/98 |
10 feet from sound source Inside adjoining suite 203 |
98-103 dBA
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APPENDIX C
COMMON AMBIENT NOISE READINGS DOWNTOWN
LOCATION |
DATE/TIME |
NOISE LEVEL
|
Granville & Smithe |
Sept 26/00 - 11 a.m.
|
65.2
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Granville & Helmcken |
Sept 26/00 - 11:30 a.m.
|
67.1
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Main & Terminal |
Sept 28/00 - 10:45 a.m.
|
67.1
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Powell & Alexander |
Sept 28/00 - 11:15 a.m.
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62.3
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Robson & Homer |
Sept 28/00 - 11:45 a.m.
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68.1
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Notes: Location #4 (Powell) impacted by boisterous pedestrians.
Remainder of readings had no major incidents (e.g. sirens) and all based on normal vehicle traffic.
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