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:
Comité des services communautaires et de
protection
and Council/et au Conseil
30 April 2009 / le 30 avril 2009
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
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.
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.
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.
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