Editor:
I notice that the noise bylaw is on the council agenda with a staff recommendation for enactment in due course.
It seems to me that there are two specific changes that may be of interest to the public at large. The first is the removal of an absolute time limit of midnight for music and amplified sound. Presently council can grant an exemption to the noise bylaw that permits these activities on private property to continue beyond the 2300-hour limit, but not beyond 2400 hours. Similar restrictions are applied to events on District property. The proposed bylaw removes the midnight limitation, conceivably allowing this noise to continue until all hours.
The second change concerns construction noise (as defined by the bylaw) and is, in my opinion, potentially more problematic.
At present any exemption requires approval by council at a public meeting. The proposed changes would enable staff to approve a multiple day, round the clock exemption to an applicant upon request. This could happen with no consultation or notice to any affected parties. It all smacks of Harper-esque tactics to avoid the inconvenience of public debate.
The staff report makes comments about streamlining processes and reducing red tape, but we all know that the term red tape is often just code for regulation that someone finds inconvenient. In fact, what these changes do is remove public noise protection from the public process.
Val Morris, Sechelt
