King Township Council moves ahead with draft noise bylaw

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 1, 2015
By Tim Kelly

After working through the issue in a study session in July, Township council has attempted to cut through the din and come up with a draft noise bylaw.

The draft bylaw will limit the number of noise bylaw exemptions to three per calendar year with exemptions required 30 days prior to the event, notice given to nearby properties, a cost of $50 per exemption shall be required and, if an extra or special exemption is called for, council shall hear it.

John Flys of Nobleton has complained about noise coming from the Arbour Restaurant on Hwy. 27 more than two dozen times in the past seven years.

Flys lives on 15th Sideroad, about a half-kilometre from the Arbour.

He said he sees some merit in the draft bylaw reduction to three noise bylaw exemptions per year after complaining the Arbour has received many times that number of noise exemptions from the township since 2008.

But he said his “lawyer advises the impact of this (change) will also depend on what the new noise bylaw says in 2016."

He said that since King Township bylaw officers don’t work after 4:30 p.m. or on weekends or holidays, he’s also concerned about the strength of the draft bylaw.

Nobleton Councillor David Boyd said he believes the draft bylaw is the best compromise.

“I think council and staff have come up with a suitable solution to noise issues in Nobleton. I think for the most part a lot of it is just being neighbourly. Besy and I laid in bed, I think it was Saturday night last week, falling asleep to a ‘Mariachi’ band and somebody was having a 30th birthday party and God bless them. It didn’t bother me as a neighbour.

“I know at times people can maybe push the envelope a little. I think we’ve put in place an appropriate bylaw to deal with that. This is a good example of us trying to be accountable and fair to all our residents. I think it was a fair measure that was put in place,” said Boyd.