How To Make A Noise Complaint

The complaint that put one of the city’s biggest watering holes into “dry Docks” came from the Toronto Island. But it’s not the only such beef city officials deal with on a daily basis.

How do you make a complaint and who do you call to make a noise about a noise?

Some people turn to the police and in cases of a noisy neighbour, that’s often enough to turn down the volume – and the tension. But in the case of a business that’s bugging you after hours, you have to contact the city’s Municipal Licensing and Standards Dept., which deals with such problems.

Lance Cumberbatch walks CityNews through the process.

Fist what the bylaw actually says:

It prohibits loudspeakers or other amplification devices from reaching high levels anywhere in the city between 11pm and 7am and before 9am on Sundays and stat holidays.

What if a nearby business is disturbing the peace during those times? That’s when you turn to people like Cumberbatch. The city is actually divided into four sectors and you have to call the office closest to the area where you’re complaining about.

“An investigator or officer is assigned to do an investigation,” he explains. “They would go to the site…with a noise meter to determine if the noise is outside the acceptable levels. If necessary, they will then issue a notice of violation or order to have that situation corrected.”

And it doesn’t take long. If a noise complaint is considered serious, it could be addressed within 24-48 hours. But as the Docks Nightclub incident proves, getting it fixed isn’t always easy.

“Some of the offenders are nightclub operations who are adjacent to residential areas and the very operation of their business produces noise. So they can’t just shut it down.So those are the ones that tend to drag on.”

Violating an order can result in court action or having their license pulled, but not all the problems are immediately reparable.

“We expect that they correct it [right away],” Cumberbatch relates. “But some businesses…where the very nature of the business produces noise, like a nightclub…they would find it difficult to comply immediately.”

And that’s one of the reasons the Docks situation went on for so long.

Once you make your request, you may never know what happened unless you specifically ask for an update. But either way, no one will ever know it was you.

“The complainants are anonymous,” Cumberbatch assures.

But just remember not all gripes are met with a positive outcome.

Still, the city is ready to take on any legitimate grievances. Who should you call if you think your case needs to be – you should pardon the expression – heard?

A lot depends on where you live or where the offending sound is coming from. Here’s the list for Toronto.

Scarborough District: (416) 396-4266
(Roughly east of Victoria Park Ave.)

North York District: (416) 395-7056
(Defined as Victoria Park to Jane St. and Steeles south to Eglinton)

Toronto and East York District: (416) 392-0384
(Victoria Park to Keele St., south of Eglinton)

Etobicoke-York District: (416) 392-2904
(West of Jane and Keele to western city boundary)

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