Ottawa construction noise sparks mounting complaints
Last Updated: Friday, July 3, 2009 | 1:26 PM ET
CBC News
Ottawa residents have called the city with more complaints about construction noise this year, even though city council's new construction regulations have gone into effect.
Last month, city councillors voted to shorten construction days at infill sites by two hours, which meant work could be done between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., not until 10 p.m. as in previous years.
Infill sites are vacant or under-used lands in already developed areas which are used for new construction projects.
On June 24, those regulations came into effect, but neither the new rules nor the economic downturn seem to have lowered the volume of construction noise in the city, according to bylaw officers.
They said they've received 50 per cent more construction-related noise complaints this year than they had at this time last year.
Many of the complaints, they said, are from residents who said construction workers aren't finishing their work within the new hours — or even within the old ones.
Maggie Melonson, who lives across the street from where three new homes are being built, said she has heard saws start earlier and run later than the allowed time.
"We've had quite an amount of noise and disruption," Melonson said about the project that has lasted 10 months.
"There was a lad who had stayed late and done some work and it was after 10:30 at night. He was trying to disassemble or collapse his ladder and all you could hear was the clang, clang, clang, clang, clang."
Melonson said deliveries sometimes arrive before the work day begins and because of a large pothole, "you hear the boom, boom as everything goes over that."
The city said there were 104 complaints in June of last year, and that this year there have been 150.
Troy Leeson, a manager with the city's bylaw services, said the number of building permits handed out this year has been higher, which means bylaw officers have also had more work to do.
"He may speak with the foreman on site at the time and see if he can rectify the problem immediately," Leeson said, or a bylaw officer can lay a charge then or later.
John Hebert, who heads the Greater Ottawa Homebuilders Association, said the city's new regulations have builders juggling several jobs at a time.
"The shortened construction day is going to increase costs again because it's going to force trades to go back and forth more times than they would otherwise have to."
Hebert said that with more infill projects on the way, the conflict between neighbours and construction workers could grow even more this year.
