Noise By-law

Town Council

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Chief Dan Rivett(C) presides over noise by-law meeting

The meeting presided over by Saugeen Shores Police Chief, Dan Rivett, gave residents an opportunity to air their concerns and complaints over noise, particularly, at night in the community.

One business owner expressed his concern that if a by-law is established prohibiting any and all noise after 7:00 p.m. at night it will strangle businesses related to tourism. "Next to the Bruce Nuclear site, Tourism is the next biggest sector of the economy."

According to Chief Rivett, "Council, at the end of the day, has to be satisfied with all recommendations before it" to which someone added, "I hope we have wise people making some of these decisions."

"My concern," said one resident, "is that there is always going to be someone who doesn't like a certain type of noise. What's going to happen with these new condos on the beach. I would imagine that the people who buy them will eventually take umbridge at the little train that has run on the beach for decades and they also won't like the Sunday night concerts.

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25/04/2009 09:00 PM

In 2001, a noise By-law was put in place banning commercial deliveries after 11:00 p.m. Those at the meeting expressed that, given the growth the town has experienced and the large box retailers that are moving in, that particular ruling will probably change.

Councilor Luke Charbonneau, Chair of the Business Improvement Committee, also attended the meeting. "What's different now," he said, "is the change in the community. We have to have a noise by-law to set a standard but we have to look beyond that. We have to look at how we deal with each other as neighbours. Council can't sort this out by itself. We should try and settle some of these differences as neighbours. It used to be that if a 'neighbour' was being annoyingly loud, someone would personally go over and say something. That isn't happening anymore."

No decisions were made regarding the noise by-law and there will be another meeting in the near future for public input.

"I want everyone to know that they can give me any input at any time," said Chief Rivett, "however, I don't think we should wait until the end of summer to make some decisions."