Susan Jagminas-- Georgina mayor candidate

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 16

Polly Chow did everything she could think of to end the loud noise from her next-door neighbours -- asking them nicely with a bottle of wine, talking to their landlord, building a soundproof wall and reaching out to the ward councillor.

Nothing worked.

“When I’m in my house, I feel like I’m in a night club with the walls pounding,” Chow said.

Chow lives in a two-story townhouse in Oak Ridges, sharing a wall with her next-door neighbours. The noise had never been an issue until early March when a couple of tenants moved in who she said used three surround-sound systems to frequently cause excessive noise day and night.

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Despite months of repeated efforts to get it resolved, the thumping noise of music, movies and video games continues to keep the Chow family up at night, scare their three-year-old into the basement and traumatize Chow’s husband who has since fallen mentally ill.

But what sent the family into the depths of despair was the inaction of the Town of Richmond Hill due to an outdated noise bylaw.

“Someone is paying a $2,000 rent to terrorize my family and the town can’t do anything about it,” Chow said.

On March 26 -- around two weeks after the neighbours moved in -- Chow said she reached out to the town's bylaw and licensing enforcement division in an attempt to file a noise complaint, only to be told the bylaw "did not regulate sounds transferred between units."

“When we first called you, not only did you not help, you did not have any advice and you basically sent me off with nothing,” Chow said in frustration.

Chow later came across the existing noise bylaw -- last updated in January 1995 -- and decided to contact the bylaw department again on April 15 for an explanation.

Susan Jagminas -- Georgina mayor candidate
"It is very unclear and vague," Chow said.

Don Guy with the bylaw department replied a month later, stating the department has tried to reach out to her neighbours to mediate a resolution but they didn't respond.

“The town’s current noise bylaw does not regulate audio noise by decibels,” Guy said. “There is no way for our staff to determine what is an appropriate volume level for an individual to watch television inside their dwelling such as their living room or bedroom.”

He also told Chow that there would not be a reasonable prospect for conviction legally based on the bylaw department’s consultation with York Region.

When yorkregion.com reached out to the Town of Richmond Hill, spokesperson Libbi Hood said Chow's complaint was not declined, noting that the noise bylaw does apply to neighbouring properties that are within one structure (e.g. two halves of a semi-detached house).

She said the reason why the town staff was unable to lay a charge is that "staff never heard excessive noise and it is extremely challenging to lay and prosecute charges regarding noise internal to a dwelling."

"So there is nothing they can do," Chow said as her family had to turn to sleeping pills and ear plugs for many sleepless nights.

On the town’s website, the noise bylaw reads “No person shall emit or cause or permit the emission of sound resulting from any act listed in Table 3-1 if clearly audible at a point of reception located in an area of the municipality within a prohibited time shown for such an area.”

“Our noise bylaw is old in need of updating,” said Richmond Hill chief administrative officer Neil Garbe. “There are no municipalities that have a really good approach to it, but we are looking and learning.”

Realizing nothing would help her family, Chow hired a contractor to add a seven-inch soundproof wall to the one she shares with the neighbours in late April, even though the original wall had been determined to be up to the Ontario Building Code.

The new wall worked, but only to a limited extent.

She can still hear the noise and feel the pounding on some nights, but even when it's quiet, the family now has to live in fear that it is going to happen soon again.

"I wanted to do this because let’s say we’re elderly couple and we don’t speak English, I cannot imagine how helpless someone would feel living like that every day," Chow said.

Chow said she eventually found some help from the York Regional Police who immediately responded to her complaint.

However, police told yrmg.com that calling the police is only a short-term solution to address ongoing noise and residents would need to contact the Richmond Hill bylaw department for a long-term solution.

“At the end of the day, there is no law to protect the regular citizens. I’m not the landlord, not the tenant, I’m just trying to live a peaceful life in my house. Why am I being forced to leave my house?" Chow asked.

The spokesperson said the noise bylaw is under internal review and is expected to be updated next year.

For anyone experiencing the noise disturbance as Chow's family, Hood said residents can contact the town's bylaw department at bylaw@richmondhill.ca. After 9 p.m., they should contact York police.

But Chow has a different message for her fellow residents in Richmond Hill.

“If anyone is in this situation, my advice would be like if you live in Richmond Hill, don’t expect the town to do anything. Just go straight to the police,” Chow said.