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Noise complaint a ‘no-win situation’
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Tammy Napier’s house is directly across from the Carillion Canada facility. She is trying to get town council to require the company to reduce its noise.
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The Carillion Canada facility was built at the former Desperado Meats Company site south of the railway tracks. But Tammy Napier questions why it was allowed to be built near a residential area.
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Mac Olsen
for South Peace News
A woman’s complaint about noise from the Carillion Canada facility across from her property is a “no-win situation” for the Town of High Prairie’s protective services committee.
Committee member Wayne Forrester made the remark during their meeting Oct. 16.
“I have no idea what the answer is,” says Forrester. “It’s a question of when they have to sand. Is it not a question of the greater good?”
Committee member Jeff Burgar says the complaints aren’t exaggerated, but the noise issues are not constant, either.
“I sympathize with the landowner, but there’s nothing we can do,” says Burgar.
Forrester suggested a motion to return the matter to town council for resolution. Burgar seconded it and it was approved unanimously.
Committee member Wilfred Willier wasn’t present.
However, Tammy Napier, the woman who launched the complaint, feels she has been “written off” because of the “no-win” remark, as if she doesn’t matter.
“I want my yard back,” says Napier. “I want my home back. I want to be able to enjoy the home I’ve paid for.”
Carillion Canada has built a facility at the former Desperado Meats Company site south of the railway tracks. The company operates heavy equipment from there and stores road salt onsite. The company was awarded a contract to maintain local highways.
Council’s bylaw enforcement services office issued a report to the protective services committee about her grievance. Peace officer Alan Bloom talked to Richard Bruneau, the supervisor at the Carillion yard.
“I informed him of the complaint and we discussed options as to what could be done to rectify the situation and to lessen the noise, but the response was the town is just as much (at) fault as Carillion for allowing the development,” says Bloom.
“The meeting resolved nothing, I followed up with a meeting with the complainant and informed her of the meeting I had with Carillion. She wasn’t satisfied and said it wasn’t over and that she would be fighting to get council to do something about it.”
Bloom also quoted the bylaw, “. . .nothing in this bylaw shall prevent continual operation or carrying on of an industrial activity or the performance or the carrying on thereof during quiet hours in an area which is classed as an industrial district designated and set out in Land-Use Bylaw …”
It is an existing problem which has come to the surface with the development of the maintenance yard, he continued, with two different zones next to each other. The only solution would be to construct a noise barrier along the property to deflect some of the noise.
Napier counters the arguments by pointing to other provisions in the bylaw, such as the “quiet hours” provision, which is from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., as well as the weekday provision, which means any day other than Sunday or a holiday.
She also points to the general prohibitions.
“Except to the extent it is allowed by this bylaw no person shall make, continue or cause or allow to be made or continued any loud, unnecessary or unusual noise or any noise whatsoever which either annoys, disturbs, injures, endangers or detracts from the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of other persons within the limits of the town.”
Another relates directly to the quality of life she wants to enjoy with her home.
“Where an activity which is not specifically prohibited or restricted … creates or makes a sound which … creates … a disturbance or annoyance to other people … a person engaging in such an activity shall do so in such a manner as to create as little of such sound as practicable under the circumstances.”
Napier also points to the provision which prohibits a commercial transport’s diesel engine idling for longer than 20 minutes within 150 metres of a residential district.
Despite her frustrations with the process, Napier will continue to advocate her point of view with the Town of High Prairie, to get her grievance addressed amicably.
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