1.          PERMITTED TIMES FOR CONSTRUCTION NOISE AT INFILL HOUSING SITES

 

HEURES PERMISES – BRUITS DES TRAVAUX DE CONSTRUCTION SUR LES CHANTIERS D’HABITATIONS INTERCALAIRES  

 

 

Committee RecommendationS

 

That Council approve that the following motion be referred to the Community and Protective Services Committee for consideration:

 

That, for infill housing only, the City of Ottawa permits the sound generated by construction equipment during the following times:

(a)        between the hours of 7a.m. to 8p.m., Monday through Friday

(b)        between the hours of 9a.m. and 7p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays.

(c)        for the purposes of this motion, infill housing means a development that occurs on a single lot, or a consolidated number of small lots on sites that are vacant or underdeveloped.

 

 

RECOMMANDATIONS DU COMITÉ

 

Que le Conseil approuve que la motion suivante soit présentée au Comité des services communautaires et de protection aux fins d’examen :

 

Que, pour les habitations intercalaires seulement, la Ville d’Ottawa autorise les bruits générés par des travaux de construction aux heures suivantes :

(a)        de 7 h à 20 h, du lundi au vendredi;

(b)        de 9 h à 19 h, les samedis, dimanches et jours fériés;

(c)        dans le cadre de la présente motion, « habitations intercalaires » signifie un aménagement qui est situé sur une parcelle distincte, ou sur un regroupement de petites parcelles sur un terrain vague ou sous-aménagé.

 

 

Documentation

 

1.      Committee Coordinator’s report, Community and Protective Services, dated 30 April 2009 (ACS2009-CCS-CPS-0012).

 

2.      Extract of Draft Minutes, 1 June 2009.


Report to / Rapport au:

 

Community and Protective Services Committee

Comité des services communautaires et de protection

 

and Council/et au Conseil

 

30 April 2009 / le 30 avril 2009

 

Submitted by / Soumis par: City Council / Conseil municipal

 

Contact / Personne-ressource : Marc Desjardins, Committee Coordinator /
Coordonnateur de comité
(613) 580-2424, Ext / poste 28821, Marc.Desjardins@ottawa.ca

 

City-wide/ à l'échelle de la Ville

Ref N°:  ACS2009-CCS-CPS-0012

 

 

SUBJECT:     PERMITTED TIMES FOR CONSTRUCTION NOISE AT INFILL HOUSING SITES  

 

OBJET:          HEURES PERMISES – BRUITS DES TRAVAUX DE CONSTRUCTION SUR LES CHANTIERS D’HABITATIONS INTERCALAIRES  

 

 

REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS

 

That the following motion be referred to the Community and Protective Services Committee for consideration:

 

That, for infill housing only, the City of Ottawa permits the sound generated by construction equipment during the following times:

(a)            between the hours of 7a.m. to 8p.m., Monday through Friday

(b)        between the hours of 9a.m. and 7p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays.

(c)        for the purposes of this motion, infill housing means a development that occurs on a single lot, or a consolidated number of small lots on sites that are vacant or underdeveloped.

 

RECOMMANDATIONS DU RAPPORT

 

Que la motion suivante soit présentée au Comité des services communautaires et de protection aux fins d’examen :

 

Que, pour les habitations intercalaires seulement, la Ville d’Ottawa autorise les bruits générés par des travaux de construction aux heures suivantes :

(a)        de 7 h à 20 h, du lundi au vendredi;

(b)        de 9 h à 19 h, les samedis, dimanches et jours fériés;

(c)        dans le cadre de la présente motion, « habitations intercalaires » signifie un aménagement qui est situé sur une parcelle distincte, ou sur un regroupement de petites parcelles sur un terrain vague ou sous-aménagé.

 

 

BACKGROUND

 

City Council, at its meeting held on 22 April 2009, referred the following motion to the Community and Protective Service Committee for consideration:

 

WHEREAS construction noise is permitted in Ottawa at all times except between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. except for Sunday when construction noise must not start before 9 a.m.

 

WHEREAS the increasing amount of infill housing, in tangent with the targeted objectives of the city’s Official Plan has resulted in deterioration of quality of life for many Ottawa residents, who must endure constant summers of not being able to enjoy their outside premises on account of the noise and dust generated on construction sites,

 

WHEREAS other municipalities are able to balance the requirements of the building industry while maintaining a lesser impact on the quality of life for their residents, eg: Toronto: The operation of construction equipment is prohibited from 7pm. one day to 7a.m. the next day, except for Saturday, Sunday and statutory holidays when it is prohibited until 9a.m., Vancouver: Construction is permitted between 7:30a.m. to 8 p.m. on any weekday not a holiday, and between 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on any Saturday not a holiday, and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, and New York City: Construction is permitted ONLY on weekdays between 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

 

BE IT RESOLVED THAT, for infill housing only, the City of Ottawa permits the sound generated by construction equipment during the following times:

(a)      between the hours of 7a.m. to 8p.m., Monday through Friday

(b)        between the hours of 9a.m. and 7p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays.

(c)        for the purposes of this motion, infill housing means a development that occurs on a single lot, or a consolidated number of small lots on sites that are vacant or underdeveloped

 

 

CONSULTATION

 

City Operations and Infrastructure Services & Community Sustainability

 

From the by-law enforcement perspective, the proposed amendment to the Noise By-law 2004-253, particularly with its application to “infill” housing, would be problematic.  Specifically, the definition of “infill” housing, largely the latter section related to the consolidation of lots, is very broad and subject to interpretation. 

It can be expected that there will be confusion on the part of the public and homebuilders as to exactly where the proposed hours would apply. 

 

Clarity around the scope of the proposed regulation will be discussed at the Community and Protective Services Standing Committee meeting. 

 

Enforcement of this provision of the by-law would be on a request-for-service basis.

 

Staff notes that the housing construction industry has not been consulted with respect to any impacts the motion may have on the industry.

 

A copy of this report has been forwarded to the Greater Ottawa Home Builders' Association (GOHBA), the Building Owners and Manager’s Association (BOMA) and the Building Industry Liaison – Designers, Contractors and Owners (BILDCO), which have been advised of the date and time of the meeting.

 

 

DISPOSITION

 

The City Operations Department will action any direction received as part of consideration of this report. 


PERMITTED TIMES FOR CONSTRUCTION NOISE AT INFILL HOUSING SITES

HEURES PERMISES – BRUITS DES TRAVAUX DE CONSTRUCTION SUR LES CHANTIERS D’HABITATIONS INTERCALAIRES 

(Referred from City Council meeting 22 April 2009 / Reporté de la réunion du Conseil municipal du 22 avril 2009)

ACS2009-CCS-CPS-0012 CITY WIDE / À L’ÉCHELLE DE LA VILLE

 

(Deferred from Community and Protective Services Committee meeting 7 May 2009 / Reporté de la réunion du Comité des services communautaires et de protection du 7 mai 2009)

 

Councillor Doucet stated that this issue came from complaints that arose from construction noise during spring, summer and fall.  He said that the motion does the least that it can possibly do unfortunately and does not move us towards standards set by New York City, Vancouver, Montreal and a little less than Toronto.  This covers infill construction only and had hoped that this would have passed at Council.  He considers this more of a gesture than a real impact.

 

Councillor Chiarelli had discussed this motion with a contractor and they stated that many of the people that work in infill projects work full time on major projects and as independent contractors after hours.  He asked if this would drive out some of those employment opportunities.

 

Linda Anderson, Manager By-Law and Regulatory Services responded by saying that she didn’t have first hand knowledge of the employment situation but the experience has been that a lot of the construction that is happening into the evening hours is of a smaller scale with people doing renovations to their own homes using independent contractors who are available at those hours.

 

Councillor Chiarelli stated that many of those independent contractors have regular jobs during the day and that is his concern is that we are restricting income and employment. As well, we have different standards for noise at different times of the day and sources when noise is noise.

 

Susan Jones, General Manager, Emergency and Protective Services stated that the hours are based on extensive public consultation when the noise by-law was enacted.  The construction industry and the public had come up with those times as reasonable hours.

 

Chair Deans commented that the reason why Council referred this issue was to give the opportunity to the homebuilders and the industry to come forward and voice any concerns.  None were present to voice their concerns.

 

That the following motion be referred to the Community and Protective Services Committee for consideration:

 

That, for infill housing only, the City of Ottawa permits the sound generated by construction equipment during the following times:

(a) between the hours of 7a.m. to 8p.m., Monday through Friday

(b) between the hours of 9a.m. and 7p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays.

(c) for the purposes of this motion, infill housing means a development that occurs on a single lot, or a consolidated number of small lots on sites that are vacant or underdeveloped.

 

                        CARRIED with Councillor Chiarelli dissenting