Noise Bylaw Proving Difficult

Building a noise bylaw in Coldstream is proving to be a deep thought issue.

Council this week deferred any readings of proposals until staff can get accurate readings from around the district.

Mayor Jim Garlick says the district has been working from a bylaw developed in Richmond on the coast.

“They’ve also said that they could  do like a table top exercise looking at the community modeling sounds, and coming up with something that makes sense to what we have here, rather than just trying to force something on the community.”

Garlick says he can’t see supporting the proposed bylaw unless a more thorough job is done on it.

Council received letters from Tolko, Lavington Pellet Limited, and Restoration Lands expressing concern about the proposed night decibel threshold of 50 dbA.

Mayor Garlick understands.

“And they’ve pointed out that in some communities like New Westminster and others, they have a level of 55 for industrial areas, so we`re going to see what that looks like.”

50 dbA would be at the level of dishwasher in another room.

Garlick says it would also be necessary to know what is produced by industry in the area.

He says it’s going to take some work to wrap their heads around sound.

“To actually identify that one particular source of sound is creating the problem, sometimes it’s addition of sound. Waves add to one another and subtract from one another.”

Garlick says it’s a complicated issue.

He says he hopes to get the entire community involved so that the bylaw serves everyone equally.