This summer, 1052 people were forced to call Ottawa’s bylaw services to complain about noise in the Rideau-Vanier ward, an area situated around downtown Ottawa.

Rideau-Vanier is the twelfth ward, and this summer it ranked first for the volume of noise complaints received by the city of Ottawa.

Bob Forbes, vice-president of Action Sandy Hill Community Association, says that the summer months are a critical time in terms of making an impact with noise bylaws.

“Ward 12 has a large student population adjacent to families which differentiates it from other wards. This can lead to both noise and complaints, particularly on warm nights,” he says.

From April to August of this year, ward 12 is the only ward to break one-thousand noise complaints, leaving a number of residents unhappy and searching for answers.

Marc Aubin, a candidate for councillor in ward 12, says that better city services is a strong part of his campaign and something he would like to see change immediately.

“In neighbourhoods like Rideau-Vanier, there are more systemic problems in the neighbourhood,” he says.

“There will be problem properties where there are ongoing noise issues and the neighbours have to constantly call about that same problem address.”

Aubin says that he would like to see the city take an approach to be more proactive about bylaw enforcement, however right now the issue is the lack of city services for such a dense area of the city.

Similar to the Rideau-Vanier ward, Capital ward’s population density is higher than other areas of the city, according to the 2011 census.

Per square kilometre, the population density differs by only 12%, however in the past five months, Rideau-Vanier has had 692 more noise complaints than Capital ward. This shows that in an area with roughly the same amount of people, noise can be controlled.

Comparing the summer months of 2013 to that of 2014, noise complaints in the downtown area have reduced, but ward 12 continues to be the area issuing the most complaints.

Mathieu Fleury, current councillor of ward 12, is aware of the issues surrounding noise and hopes to continue the decline in complaints.

“Noise and property standards issues are some of the bigger issues in the ward and in order to address these issues, we have brought a number of changes to the policies,” he says.

“We changed the noise bylaw so that the owner of a building be responsible for the noise contained within. This change allows bylaw officers to attend problematic addresses.”

Fleury is running for re-elect this fall, and says he hopes to continue into the next term with a more proactive approach to dealing with noise issues.

Marc Vinette, a candidate for councillor in ward 12, says that good karma could be the answer to routine noise complaints. He calls his idea “karma for kegs.”

“It’s a way to promote tolerance for youthful shenanigans through community service payback,” says Vinette. His idea? Use neighbourhood suggestions to create a list of good deeds for the tenant(s) to undertake. If they decline however, Vinette says the consequences will heighten.

“Essentially, it’s a titanium fist of enforcement in a velvet glove of pro-social opportunity,” says Vinette.

If he gets another complaint about excessive noise, he will arrive with a member of bylaw services. “Ticket writing will commence and will only stop when these misguided souls shape up and join the program, move out, or their parents go bankrupt,” says Vinette.

Vinette also says that construction is annoying and poorly planned, but necessary. He says this contributes to a lot of noise in the city.

Whether the election brings proactive bylaw enforcement, changes to noise policies, or routine ticket-writing, ward 12 will have to continue working hard to avoid topping the noise complaint list in the months to come.