This is a reminder that the Province has removed the ability of the City to regulate construction noise during the day and they have extended the allowed hours.
By Order of the Province of Ontario, all permitted construction will be allowed to take place between the hours of 6 am and 10 pm, seven days a week until October 7, 2021.
Many construction companies willingly continue to follow the City’s pre-pandemic bylaw on noise, but the City’s ability to enforce compliance is no longer permitted by the Province’s change to the Municipal Act. This Provincial Order supersedes the normal regulations set out by the City of Ottawa’s Noise By-law.
As per Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Province implemented this change to help to protect the health and safety of construction workers and ensure that critical health care-related construction projects continue during this outbreak. Temporarily limiting noise bylaws to extend the hours for construction work will help make it possible to stagger shifts and have fewer workers on site at any given time so they can practice physical distancing. (For more details refer to Ontario Accelerates Essential Construction Projects During COVID-19)
made under the
MUNICIPAL ACT, 2001
Made: April 7, 2020
Filed: April 7, 2020
Published on e-Laws: April 8, 2020
Printed in The Ontario Gazette: April 25, 2020
LIMITATION UNDER SECTION 451.1 OF THE ACT – NOISE BY-LAWS IN CONNECTION WITH CONSTRUCTION
Limitation
1. For the purposes of section 451.1 of the Act, a municipality does not have power to prohibit and regulate with respect to noise made in connection with the following:
1. Construction projects and services in a municipality associated with the healthcare sector, including new facilities, expansions, renovations and conversion of spaces that could be repurposed for health care space, at any time of the day or night.
2. Any other construction activity in a municipality between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.