City Noise Task Force Report

5. Enforcement

Introduction to enforcement

The Task Force has read many letters and listened to many citizens of Vancouver. Three common themes have emerged from public input:

1. Noise is not benign. Noise detrimentally affects people's health. Examples include sleep disturbance and increased stress.

2. There is growing frustration and anger about noise. Often the noise problem has continued for many months and people's tolerance has ended.

3. There is a wish for prompt resolution of the problem. "Do Something!" is often heard.

Many types of noises result in noise complaints

Many types of noise generate complaints; the issue can be the duration of the noise event, the time when the noise happens, the amount of noise, the loudness of the noise, the tone of the noise or the nature of the noise. Sometimes the noise is also a symptom of deeper concerns or issues (e.g. urban growth, loss of privacy, etc.). The Task Force recognizes that decibel measurements are not an effective method to judge what is noisy and these measurements should be used only when necessary to deal with specific sources.

The need for prompt action

Most citizens and businesses of Vancouver will, when faced with a noise complaint, apologize and adjust their behaviour to solve the noise problem. There are, however, a minority of citizens and businesses which will not. These citizens and businesses may feel they have "the right" to create unreasonable noise, inflict it on their neighbours and erode the quality of life in a Vancouver neighbourhood.

Currently, when there is a lack of cooperation by an individual or business it can often take months or even years for a noise problem to be resolved. City staff work diligently to solve these problems but the current by-law lacks effective enforcement methods for prompt resolution.

It has been well documented in the medical literature that noise has a detrimental impact on the health and well being of human beings. For the protection of the health of noise-impacted citizens, there needs to be prompt action in resolving noise complaints.

Repeated noise complaints and costs

The costs of solving a noise complaint when there is lack of cooperation are borne by the taxpayer. When there are repeated visits by police, Health Department or other City staff, the costs are substantial, but are not reflected in the current penalties applied.

"Deemed objectionable"

All noise complaints should be "ticketable offences" with progressive fines for repeat violations. This means prompt action, because a fine can be issued immediately. Progressive fines should be pursued for businesses and citizens who repeat offend. Noise tickets should not be "a cost of doing business" but should send the appropriate financial message so there is prompt compliance and no repeated breach of the noise by-law.

Enforcement recommendations

The Task Force has recommended over 160 improvements to the way the City deals with noise. Many of them are based on the existing Noise By-law. It has become clearly evident that a noise by-law without consistent and effective enforcement will not result in any improvements to the urban soundscape, and will likely foster increased degradation of the soundscape. This chapter brings together the various elements related to enforcement scattered throughout the document and includes some additional ideas from the Task Force on the thorny issue of enforcement.

1. Review response to "out-of-hours" noise complaints with a view to utilizing environmental health more fully for noise response, given the difficulty the police have with making noise a priority.

2. Revamp/revise sections that require the affected party to attend court as a witness in order to get a prosecution.

3. Examine the resources required to adequately enforce the enhanced by-law, including all the recommendations contained in this report.

4. Sort out jurisdictional issues such as noise from bodies of water, First Nations Land and across municipal boundaries.

5. Use mediation more frequently to resolve neighbour-to-neighbour noise problems. (See Recommendations 32, 34, 35, and 37.)

6. Increase minimum fines.

7. Adopt progressive fine systems (e.g., Recommendations 36.3, 34.2 and 44.5).

8. Adopt/utilize ticketing system where appropriate (e.g., Recommendations 34.1 and 36.1).

9. Fines should match/cover the cost of enforcement.

10. Increase enforcement with less tolerance for offences (e.g., Recommendations 36.6 and 44.3)

11. Monitor/report on the full costs of enforcement. (e.g., Recommendation 36.7)

12. Seek increased powers under the Charter to deal with noise (e.g. security systems -- Recommendation 37.1)

Conclusion

"The most important aspect of all the recommendations is the enforcement of them." Excerpt from e-mail to the Task Force

There is a common recognition by Vancouver Councillors, City Staff, Vancouver Police and the citizens and businesses of Vancouver that excessive noise is detrimental to your health. Noise erodes the quality of life, neighbourhoods and the spirit of neighbourhood cooperation. Noise complaints are not frivolous. Vancouver prides itself on being a world-class city with a quality of life perhaps unparalleled on earth. Limiting noise and instituting prompt enforcement against repeat offenders will help preserve Vancouver's quality of life into the 21st century.

Last modified: April 30, 1997
(c) 1996 City of Vancouver