NOISE BY-LAW

The City of Waterloo regulates noise through the Noise By-laws 78-79 and 86-75 (see below).

Examples of prohibited noise include, but are not limited to:

• a dog barking daily, and excessively;
• loud stereo or musical equipment being played on a regular basis; and
• construction equipment operated before 7 am and after 7 pm and on Sundays and statutory holidays.

Background

The City's noise legislation was originally enacted in 1971 and approved by the Ministry of the Environment under the authority of the Environmental Protection Act.  This legislation was augmented in 1986 by legislation approved by Council under the authortiy of the Municipal Act.  When the City's current by-laws were developed, the scientific methods for measuring noise were limited in relation to municipal enforcement.  The methods of measuring noise were unreliable, so municipalities continued to enforce noise by-laws based on a qualitative test.  The qualitative test focused on general types of noise including barking dogs, beating drums and ringing bells.  Charges issued based on the qualitative observations rely on direct evidence from a witness that is willing to testify to the violation.  The witness is required to convince the court that the noise heard contravenes a prohibition of the by-law in place.

Moving forward:  A proposed new noise by-law

Since the inception of quantitative (decibel level) measuring techniques were introduced in the late 1970's, advances in sound measurement technology has allowed municipalities to evaluate the quantitative aspects of noise and include them in the text of new by-laws.  This means, municipalities can actually measure the amount, or quantity, of sound being emitted from a sound source.  The introduction of quantitative enforcement will allow enforcement officers to use sound level meters to determine the decibel level of devices, such as air conditioners, and measure that reading against the allowable level set within the by-law.  The by-law will also be reviewed and the language contained within it changed to omit vague and confusing statements.  The new by-law will also be created based on existing provincial guidelines and documents including the Noise Pollution Control publications listed below.  In order to ensure that staff members are trained and ready to enforce a new by-law, a thorough training regiment is being implemented and appropriate equipment obtained.

Direction

Staff is currently undertaking a thorough review of the Noise By-law(s) with the intention of producing a new, modern, comprehenstive noise by-law.  The goal of this new by-law will be to take advantage of advancements in technology and provide enforcement methods that take advantage of quantitative noise measurements as well as qualitative enforcement methods.

Staff Training

Currently, staff is taking part in training provided by the Institute for Municipal and Government Training.  Training being provide includes areas such as the theory of sound measurement, basics of acoustics, instrumentation, complaint investigation procedures and more.  This training will enable the By-law Enforcement division to be prepared for the enactment of a new comprehensive by-law.

Public Consultation

Staff presented Council with a proposed new noise by-law for review on November 9, 2009.  The draft by-law will be presented to residents at a public meeting being held on December 2, 2009 in the Community Room at Albert McCormick Community Centre, 500 Parkside Drive, from 5 pm to 7 pm.

To help staff further develop this proposed concept into a new noise by-law which meets the needs of our community, we need input from our citizens.  Please take the time to complete this survey and share your opinions and ideas on a revised noise by-law.  The survey will be available until December 15, 2009.

Information collected through this survey and further public input opportunities will be consolidiated and used to develop a final version of a new City of Waterloo Noise By-law to be presented to Council in January of 2010.

Additional Information

For further information or to make additional comments, please contact the By-law Enforcement Ofifce during regular office hours, at 519-747-8785, or email us.