Oshawa's Municipal Law Enforcement and Licensing Services requested feedback on the City's Noise bylaw 112-82 and specifically the exemption process relating to construction noise.

The Durham Region Home Builders' Association submitted a letter to the City of Oshawa with feedback.

Presently, the Noise By-law establishes a blanket exemption for Construction Noise occurring:

• between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday on any day that is not a Holiday; and,
• on Sunday between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Individuals may currently apply for exemptions to the By-law in order to undertake construction work outside of these permitted times by submitting a request to City Clerk Services for consideration and approval by the Corporate Services Committee (“Committee”) and City Council (“Council”).

In May 2019, Council directed staff to examine the following in relation to noise exemption requests:

“That in future, when the City of Oshawa receives an application for extension of hours for noise generation that the City circulate a notice to area residents prior to the application being heard at Committee.”

Accordingly, staff are working on a proposed process to be presented to Committee and Council for approval.

The proposed process is as follows:

a)    Applicants will be required to submit an application and pay a $250 application fee at least sixty (60) days in advance of the activity. The sixty (60) day timeline is required to allow sufficient time for staff to undertake public notice activities and to allow for public feedback to be received.

b)   City staff will send a letter to all property owners within one-hundred and twenty (120) metres of the site, via regular mail, advising of details of the request, the date of the Committee meeting when the request will be considered, and methods of submitting feedback to City Clerk Services.

c)    The Noise Exemption Request application and any public feedback will appear on the next Committee meeting agenda for consideration.

d)   If approved at Committee, Council approval would then be required.

e)    If the request is approved by Council, staff will provide notice of the approved exemption on the City’s website, to the applicant, and to those who provided comments.

If members have questions or concerns, please contact Stacey at s.hawkins@drhba.com.