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Noise bylaw does not move forward for Area A residents

Columbia Shuswap Regional District moves forward on noise bylaw in all areas except Golden’s Area A
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Area A isn’t about to see a change in the regional district’s bylaws regarding noise regulations any time soon.

The Columbia Shuswap Regional District areas proposed implementing a noise bylaw in other areas of the regional district, but resident of Area A around Golden were mostly opposed to the idea.

The CSRD and the board of directors were working on the proposed noise bylaw since March of last year. In the summer, it passed first reading, and was opened to public input. Out of approximately 130 responses, more than 90 from Golden residents were opposed to the idea.

“The most opposed was Area A,” explained director Karen Cathcart. “My job as the Area A director is to look at that information, read all the comments, and look forward to see if there is an opportunity here for us to address the opposition’s concerns.”

One of the reasons why a noise bylaw might not be suitable for local residents is a lack of population density other regional areas have. Others include farming and home businesses that can create noise.

“A lot of the farmers in this community operate their facilities with livestock guardian dogs. That was one. Another was weddings. We have a number of facilities in Area A that conduct weddings,” she explained. “We have a number of rural businesses like logging companies that actually work from their residences.”

If the noise bylaw had been supported by the communities around Golden, it could have gone to further readings before eventually becoming official. However, because the CSRD wasn’t able to address all of the resident’s issues that were brought up in the comments, Cathcart does not believe it is the right time to move forward with the bylaw.

“Not all of the concerns were addressed,” Cathcart said. “I looked at the data, the noise complaints, and so forth. I looked at whether or not there was more noise in one area or another, and there wasn’t.”

Even though the noise bylaw didn’t go ahead with all other areas of the CSRD, there is always the possibility to work toward implementing it in the future.

“We always have the opportunity to opt in,” Cathcart added. “At this time I didn’t feel there was value to the bylaw. Many other areas have more dense population bases.”

The residents who live in the outlying areas of Golden span across a large geographical location, including areas like Nicholson, Parson, Blaeberry, Donald, and more.

Although there were about 42 comments in favour of the noise bylaw, the majority were still opposed, and without more support, the implementation of a noise bylaw will not go ahead at this time.

On the January 18 CSRD meeting, the bylaw was ready for a second and third time, where not all of the Area A resident’s concerns and questions were answered. So, Cathcart decided to side with the majority and not pursue the new bylaw.

“To be quite honest, it had no substance at the end of the day,” she said, adding that without more support it wasn’t feasible to create a new bylaw.

More information about the bylaw and any other information can be found on the regional district’s website at www.csrd.bc.ca