Sandy Hill, the neighbourhood within Rideau-Vanier that’s notorious for a high volume of noise complaints may be improving, according to recent data.
But a lower number of complaints could be fleeting. The final tally for noise complaint calls in 2016 may be higher than 2015, based on average monthly calls this year.
Police policy surrounding noise calls changed in April, officially making those complaints of lower priority than before.
The last few years have seen improvements in the area, with calls decreasing by nearly 23 per cent between 2013 and 2015, from 2638 to 2034.
But these marked decreases in noise complaints called via 311 to Ottawa Bylaw services may not continue based on the number of complaints received by the end of 2016. In the first nine months of this year, 1,675 noise complaints were received. The same period in 2015 saw only 1,472 complaints, 12 per cent less than this year.
Any noise complaint will first bring 311 bylaw officers to assess the situation. Those officers can issue a warning or ticket. If they find a crowd is out of control, or that violence is occurring, police are called.
The concern that calls are not being taken seriously by police is one the community is constantly grappling with, said Mathieu Fleury, councillor for Rideau-Vanier.
“They never took noise calls seriously to be honest, which was unfortunate. Or they would never get to the calls,” he said.
Fleury, at age 31, has spent six years in office. He has long dealt with his ward’s issues with noise, which majority of the time are related to music or shouting.
The councillor also sits on the Sandy Hill Town and Gown Committee, launched in 2012, to ensure that there are better relations between all parties-Students, residents and landlords.
He said relations between these different groups have improved, with the help of student union involvement and constant communication with residents.
“In September we do a walk about. We knock on all the doors to give everyone a warning about what the rules are so that everyone’s on the same page,” he said.
Calls that come after 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays may be ignored as officers are only on duty for noise until 4 a.m., said Fleury.
“I would like Ottawa police services to have longer hours. There’s a wave of calls often when the bars close, and they don’t get to every call,” he said.
Fleury said more police involvement would be ideal — as police can use the criminal code to shut down noisy parties.
“Police have right of access in the building. Bylaw just doesn’t have the authority,” he said.
Last year the town and gown committee launched a noise complain registry allow residents to file their 311 complaints in an accessible website, for landlords to view.
Landlords are now able to bring tenants to the board if they are frequently disturbing neighbours. Before this, landlords were never made aware of complaints, he added.
“We know that people are using it. Beyond that we want to see in the next few months how landlords are using it,” he said.
In the last three months the number of complaints filed on the website has increased significantly, said John Dickie, chairman of the Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization.
“We’re getting I’d say a dozen complaints a week,” said Dickie.
At a town and gown meeting this summer, Dickie mentioned the website again to a crowded room, mentioning that not many were using it. This gave the website some uptake, he said.
There’s still a lot to be done, but many are happy the overall complaints have gone down over the last few years, he added.
“You’d still like it down to the city average. But, that’s progress.”
The graph above indicates Rideau-Vanier’s noise complaints are higher than any other ward.