POLICY REPORT
ENVIRONMENT

TO:

Standing Committee of Council on Planning and Environment

FROM:

Director of Health Protection, VCHA

SUBJECT:

Noise By-law - Miscellaneous Amendments (Construction Noise)

 

RECOMMENDATION

CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

In May, 1997 Council endorsed, subject to reporting back, the following recommendations of the Urban Noise Task Force (UNTF) related to construction noise:

Recommendation 44.1: The City should implement changes to establish noise caused by construction as a ticketable offence and a deemed objectionable noise category.

Recommendation 44.2: The City should require a sign (minimum 1.2 metres by 1.2 metres) to be prominently posted at a construction site where the value of the project shown on the building permits in excess of $5o,ooo. The sign should legibly bear reference to the applicable section of the Vancouver Noise By-Law, the name of the construction firm, the name and telephone number of the person within that firm who may be contacted during all on-site working hours. The City Noise Complaint telephone number should also be prominently posted and identified. Graphics should be black lettering on white background.

Recommendation 44.3: The City should require strict enforcement of the Noise By-Law provisions related to construction.

Recommendation 44.4: The City should seek to increase the minimum fine for an offence.

Recommendation 44.5: The City should apply a progressive ticketing system to construction noise offences.

Recommendation 44.6: The City should reduce the current ending time of construction noise hours from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday. (Subject to report back after consultation with impacted stakeholders)
PURPOSE

This report seeks to address noise issues related to construction in the City. It is also intended to deal with a number of outstanding recommendations from the Urban Noise Task Force (UNTF).

BACKGROUND

The UNTF concluded that Council should deem construction noise to be objectionable and that enforcement, including ticketing, should be stepped up.

DISCUSSION

Construction noise remains the most frequently complained about category of community noise in Vancouver. A number of the UNTF recommendations with regard to construction noise have already been implemented, including the increase in minimum fine level to $500 and stricter enforcement of the by-law. City staff continues to work toward adding ticketing to the progressive enforcement approach to obtaining compliance with the by-law requirements.

Amendment #1
The first amendment recommended is meant to address an issue related to ease of enforcement and eliminating the need to actually have a member of the public attend court to provide evidence that they were "disturbed" by the construction noise. It is not meant to "declare" all construction activity objectionable as some members of the construction industry have feared.

The declaration, by Council of construction noise as an "objectionable noise" was proposed by the UNTF as a way to address a problem related to the current wording of the by-law. The by-law currently reads, "No person shall carry on any construction to the disturbance of the quiet, peace, rest or enjoyment of the public" which effectively requires a member of the public to provide evidence in court that their quiet, peace, rest or enjoyment was disturbed. By designating construction noise as an objectionable noise (when it occurs outside of the allowable hours set out in the by-law), when it can easily be heard by an individual or member of the public who is not on the same premises, enforcement would only require an enforcement officer to attend court. The by-law provisions are only enforced on receipt of complaint with the inspector gathering the necessary evidence confirming that construction noise is being generated outside the allowable work hours.

Amendment #2:
The proposed signage requirement will provide the public with information that should allow for easier access to remedies when infractions occur. Not only will the signage clarify for the public what the by-law provisions are, it will also provide them with complaint numbers to call (Environmental Health during normal business hours, 911 outside of those hours) and a workplace contact number for the prime contractor on site. The routing of "after-hours" construction noise complaints to the Police through 911 was approved by Council some 10 years ago as an effective way of providing a by-law enforcement response, albeit on a low priority basis for the Police. Adoption of the proposed signage requirement should have the added benefit of reducing the number of calls to noise control staff about activity that is in compliance with the provisions of the Noise By-law.

The original UNTF recommendation had proposed a threshold of $50,000 building permit value below which construction sites would be exempt from the signage requirement. Based on feedback from the construction and development industry, staff has refined this exemption and propose exempting all single and two family residential dwellings from the signage requirement and any construction with a building permit value under $500,000. Although we do receive a few calls about single-family construction, the majority of ongoing complaints are related to larger construction projects, which occur over extended periods of time. Staff is prepared to provide generic sign blanks to the industry, probably through the building permit issuance process. In addition, staff believes the requirement should be flexible enough to allow for slight modifications to existing signage required under other City By-laws to incorporate the additional Noise By-law information. A by-law amendment would be required to make posting of the sign mandatory through the entire period of construction. An alternative would be to include this signage requirement as part of the development permit process. This recommendation is not intended to apply to construction on a street. However, it would be appropriate for Engineering Services to include some information about Noise By-law provisions on the "Road Ahead" web page to inform the public about the different provisions which apply to construction on the street.

Amendment #3:
The issue of overly noisy equipment has been growing substantially recently. With larger developments becoming the norm, especially on the downtown peninsula, the need for jack hammering and track drills in excavations has grown. The current by-law wording states:

Complaints, in large part, are based on the high noise level experienced at the point of reception (neighbouring living space), which is permitted to be as high as 85 decibels under the current wording. Staff is recommending that this provision be modified to limit noise levels at the construction site boundary to 85 decibels, thereby providing some further moderation of noise levels at the point of reception. Where sound levels from construction equipment exceeds 85 decibels at the site boundary and we receive a complaint, the contractor will have the option of relocating the equipment, substituting quieter equipment, providing shielding or implementing other equally effective means to comply. Historically this type of heavy-duty equipment has been quite noisy, but technology is advancing and international standards are being tightened at the manufacturing level. Progressive contractors are acquiring quieter equipment to carry out this work in noise sensitive areas. Neither the current nor the proposed provision applies to construction taking place on a City street.

Amendment #4:
Section 17 of the Noise Control By-law contains a provision for the Mayor to grant permission to work outside of the hours permitted for construction noise:

The process for applying for the mayor's permission is set out in Section 17 (2), including payment of a $40 processing fee. A housekeeping amendment is recommended to move the application process to an appendix to the by-law and to increase the application fee to $75 to better reflect the actual cost of processing these requests. Administrative streamlining of the process will also be undertaken.

Unsupported Amendments:
The UNTF recommendation (44.6) that would further restrict the hours of work for construction by moving the ending time back from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. was to be brought back to Council after consultation with stakeholders. Based on these consultations, staff is not recommending adoption of the changes proposed by the UNTF, as, on balance, they provide little added benefit, while impacting on the cost and duration of major construction projects.

The original hours of work were seen as a compromise between long workdays with shorter overall project duration and shorter days with much longer project duration. The construction industry have historically resisted any further tightening of construction noise hours as it tends to increase the costs of construction, impair their ability to meet tight construction timetables and impact on their ability to attract skilled workers to projects in the City. Shrinking workdays would also impact on the ability to complete concrete pours and finishing within the hours allowed by the bylaw. Adoption of a 6 p.m. limit to construction noise would likely increase the number of applications for exemptions and would tend to lengthen the overall time (in days) that construction noise would impact on neighbouring residents. For these reasons, staff do not support proceeding with this recommendation of the Task Force.

The UNTF recommendation (44.7) that would standardize street construction hours to the same as construction on private property was rejected by City Council in 1996 and is not recommended by staff in this report. The current by-law provisions allow for a 7:00 a.m. start weekdays (instead of 7:30) and Saturdays (instead of 10 a.m.) and for construction noise from street work to occur on Sundays and holidays between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. (instead of no construction noise for normal construction). Staff continues to receive citizen complaints from time to time about the apparent discrepancy between construction noise time limits on the street and on private property. City engineering crews and other utility contractors rely quite heavily on the expanded hours to perform work during low traffic volume times. The original intent (another compromise) was meant to balance disruption to the local community with disruption to traffic flows. With minor exceptions this arrangement has reflected an appropriate balancing of public benefits and private impacts.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
No additional resource requirements have been identified to implement the proposed provisions. Should the signage requirement be approved, the cost of producing generic sign blanks can be absorbed within existing budgets in Environmental Health.

CONCLUSION

Adoption of the recommended amendments to the Noise Control By-law will serve to better address the noise impacts on communities from construction activity.

* * * * *

pe20030612.htm

Comments or questions? Send us e-mail at info@city.vancouver.bc.ca
© 2002 City of Vancouver