Montreal to crack down on concert noise

The city of Montreal's downtown Ville-Marie borough will be enforcing noise bylaws for outdoor concerts at Parc Jean-Drapeau this summer.

The park, which is located on two islands in the middle of the Saint-Lawrence River, has not previously been subject to the city's regular noise by-laws despite being the location of several outdoor concerts and festivals, including Osheaga, Heavy MTL, and the Vans Warped Tour.

Those concerts will now need to comply with the bylaw that prohibits noise above 80 decibels 35 metres from the stage.

However, several events will be exempt from the noise rules, including the Canadian Grand Prix and NASCAR races, and the fireworks at the La Ronde amusement park.

Michel Panaioti, who lives in St. Lambert on Montreal's south shore, is not optimistic about the change in enforcement of the noise limits.

"The experience last year was the equivalent of having a car drive up to the front of my living room, jam the horn on full blast and lock the car and walk away," Panaioti said.

Panaioti was part of a group of St. Lambert residentswho lobbied the city of Montreal to limit the number of concerts at Jean Drapeau last year.

He told CBC News that despite the extension of the bylaw, the loud musicwill likely still affect him this summer, as if aneighbour wereplaying a sound system too loudly by the pool.

A spokesperson for the Ville-Marie borough said when the park was created in 1967, it was used to different events that did not need to be controlled by the city's noise by-laws, but that time had changed.

The borough will also be spending $44,000 to buy two sonometers to measure sound intensity.