Spencer Van Dyk
All neighbourhoods are not created equal when it comes to noise complaints.
Data from the City of Ottawa shows that Rideau-Vanier received a significantly higher number of noise complaints in 2015 than any other ward. It received 2,468 complaints last year, compared to the 1,675 received in Somerset, the city’s second noisiest area.
“I represent a very dense area, one of Ottawa’s downtown neighborhoods,” said Mathieu Fleury, the city councilor for Ward 12, Rideau-Vanier. “It includes the university campus, which is the fifth biggest university across Canada, and the ByWard Market, which also, beyond being a historic draw, is also an entertainment district.”
He added that the area also has the highest instances of graffiti and property standards complaints.
“You can go across and really see that we have most calls for service for a lot of those elements,” he said. “It’s not something I take proudly, it’s reality. It’s from before I was here, and it will continue.”
However, the spike is significant. Ward 17, Capital, had the third highest number of complaints, and is also considered downtown, but Rideau-Vanier had more than three times the number of issues.
Anyone can make a complaint by calling 311. According to Eric Boivin, a supervisor for the 12 noise bylaw officers in Ottawa, complaints between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. merit an automatic ticket, or the officer must write a report stating why one was not issued. If the complaint is made during the day, between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., the officer must use a sound meter to check the sound level. Anything above 55 decibels, the equivalent of light traffic or conversational speech, is considered a violation.
He said that although the officers do get complaints about construction, they are typically in the early morning, and would not account for the large number of violations that occur in the early afternoon.
Those incidents, Fleury said, are likely caused by people starting parties early on the weekends if there is a football or hockey game playing. Due to the density in the area, even a small gathering with music playing and open windows could earn someone a complaint.
Ottawa handles its noise complaints differently than other cities, according to Boivin, because they are dealt with municipally as opposed to by the police force. He said municipalities are looking to the nation’s capital for guidance on how to handle these types of complaints.
“Small communities will have bylaw enforcements like we do but they won’t work the hours that we work,” he said. “We’re not 24 hours, but we’re about a 20-hour operation.”
What that means is that despite that Rideau-Vanier receives the highest number of calls, resources to deal with violations are a city-wide issue. Fleury said that he receives plenty of support from City Hall, but the ultimate goal is always to get the number of complaints down.
“For the city’s response, there is equality in the process that doesn’t discriminate as to where the complaint comes in,” Fleury said. “There’s an equal service. Where there is less noise, councilors may not see the benefit of increasing the bylaw to 24/7, or adding more restrictions to noise, and that’s where urban neighbourhoods sometimes struggle.”
Understandably, Fleury said, different times of year yield more calls to bylaw, like Canada Day and 101 Week at the University of Ottawa.
“I’d love to see that number drop more significantly, but we are a very eclectic neighbourhood, and that’s also want people want, so we have to find that balance between being fun, but also having quality of life,” he said.