Due to the volume of noise related complaints that are brought to the attention of the County Office, Wheatland council is considering implementing a new bylaw targeting noise.
Previously, the county had left noise complaints to the discretion of its bylaw officers.
“It’s another tool for our bylaw officers to address these kinds of complaints,” said Glenn Koester, Reeve of Wheatland County.
The noise bylaw, 2012-79, was designed to “prohibit certain activities creating noise that may disrupt others quiet enjoyment and to abate the incidence of noise and restrict the hour when certain sounds may be made within the boundaries of Wheatland County.”
“We’ve had situations, big and small, about people having parties, mechanical equipment operating at different hours of the day for construction, agricultural, or private industry and we had no way to address it,” said Jeff Sear, the head of bylaw enforcement in Wheatland County, who was instrumental in creating the proposed bylaw.
The proposed bylaw places restrictions on when and where noise can be generated, but generally officials are leaving the bylaw flexible.
“It’s still going leave it pretty wide open as to what is reasonable or objectionable noise,” said Sear. “It’s meant to be open. Like any bylaw, it’ll be up to the officer’s discretion, but there in an onus on the complaintant to make sure the noise is indeed objectionable and how it can be corrected.”
When a complaint is made, officers will seek to validate it by going out and assessing whether or not the noise is objectionable. From there, officers will contact the party creating the noise and give them an opportunity to correct it, or may find the noise is not a disturbance.
This will be the first time Wheatland County has considered creating a bylaw. Other municipalities in the area have implemented similar bylaws in recent years.
“It’s maybe not as common in a rural environment, but we do have hamlets and named communities under our jurisdiction,” said Sear.
The county has hosted two public hearings regarding the bylaw so far. For more information about the bylaw, visit www.wheatlandcounty.ca.
