Waterfront sound warriors gear up

With summer at hand, members of the York Quay Neighbourhood Association (YQNA) are once again gearing up for their annual war against excessive noise.

“A coalition of residents, city councillors and provincial and city agencies has been formed and is already making great strides,” YQNA chair Ulla Colgrass reports. The coalition already includes the YQNA and the neighbouring Toronto Island Community Association (TICA), councillors Pam McConnell and Adam Vaughan, the city’s Municipal Licensing and Standards (MLS) office, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and the city’s parks and recreation office. The Harbour City Yacht Club has also participated in the noise reduction crusade.

The newest member is the Toronto Passenger Vessel Association (TPVA), formed in late 2008 to create guidelines for 34 tour boats in the inner harbour—the very vessels that have traditionally been among the worst noise polluters in the city.

To the delight of local residents, Colgrass reports, “the vessel association has encouraged their members to tone down the sometimes extremely loud amplification on some boats that have sailed around the bay like floating nightclubs for years. The owners of the popular Mariposa and Empress of Canada tour boats have installed new sound systems and will no longer allow deejays to add their own equipment.”

Omar Aboya of Toronto Harbour Cruises is a cruise boat owner and member of the association.

“We try to be a good neighbours,” he says. “My boats had problems last year. We immediately prepared rules and conditions for outside deejays and they have to abide—the word is actually obey. I make them obey.” Part of his solution was to map out red and green zones throughout the cruise trajectory. In the green zones, the volume goes up. But in the red zones, if the music is too loud, the captain is authorized to pull the plug.

Aboya loves loud music himself. “At home, I like to crack my walls with Zeppelin. I can appreciate some people liking loud music. But there’s a time and place,” he opines.

“My goal is that if somebody has a complaint I want to turn them into a client,” he continues. “How do you do that? By addressing the issues and solving the issues. They cannot move their homes but we can move our homes.”

In addition, Aboya adds, he has given community members the cell phone numbers for cruise captains. “If there’s a problem with music, they can call.”

In addition to a reduction of noise from the party boats, Colgrass adds, “some of the huge Island events that kept the regular visitors away from their favourite parks have moved elsewhere.”

Wakestock and Virginfest are two major events—and traditional noise polluters—that are reported relocated to less populous spots. Wakestock has moved to Collingwood, while the new location of the annual Virgin music festival has yet to be announced. Pam McConnell’s office confirms that it will not be at the Island.

Colgrass observes, “There will still be island concerts, but with an awareness of the residents and visitors to the waterfront.”

Harbourfront Centre, Colgrass notes, has already turned down the volume.

The more family-friendly venue “worked closely with the community and lowered the decibel level of their outdoor concerts last summer. It improved the situation for thousands of residents across the street on Queen’s Quay, but complaints are still coming in.”

“It is a difficult situation with the sound rising into a wall of condos, where people hear the amplified sound clearly through closed windows. The large Sirius Stage is an open platform that needs baffles or other structural changes to contain the sound, just like the Molson Stage at Ontario Place was improved for the same reasons,” Colgrass concludes.

It is possible to control the noise: the waterfront’s former bugbear, Polson Pier—once known as The Docks—“is completely under control—no problem there,” Colgrass praises.

An online noise complaint report system created by the King-Spadina Residents Association (KSRA) is available at www.yqna.ca. The site forwards complaints to coalition members as well as to the source of the noise.

Don Rodbard of the KSRA, who himself wages a constant battle against noise problems in the Entertainment district, says: “The 2006 amendment to the city’s noise bylaw prohibits sound waves from loudspeakers passing into any public space—therefore any ‘music’ that reaches any residence is not in compliance at any time of the day or night. The noise bylaw prohibits any sound waves from any loudspeakers, unless exempted by permit, from disturbing residences.”