If the constant construction noise in Toronto during the pandemic has kept you awake, you'll be able to sleep a little easier this evening as the City's noise bylaw is back in effect, limiting construction work.
On Thursday, the provincial regulations limiting the City of Toronto's ability to manage construction noise during the pandemic expired.
As of Thursday, October 7, regulations in the City's Noise Bylaw, as it relates to construction activity, will apply again, and loud noises from construction sites will not be permitted between 7 pm to 7 am (9 am on Saturdays) nor on Sundays and statutory holidays.
In April 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ford Government introduced Ontario Regulation 130/20, which removed the City's authority to regulate or prohibit construction noise during specific time periods.
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Under this regulation, noise from construction projects and services associated with the healthcare sector, including building new facilities, expansions, renovations and conversion of spaces that could be repurposed for health care space, was permitted 24 hours a day seven days a week.
At the same time, noise from other construction activities was permitted from 6 am to 10 pm, seven days a week.
Now that this regulation has expired, the construction noise regulations set out in the City's Noise Bylaw will apply again.
According to the City, this means that: "no person shall emit or cause or permit the emission of sound resulting from any operation of construction equipment or any construction that is clearly audible at a point of reception."
Throughout the pandemic, residents living near residential and commercial construction sites complained to the Ontario NDP Party about the "bothersome" noise from construction activities morning and night.
"People are exhausted and distressed; many residents have been working from home during the pandemic, and have had no reprieve from the constant noise," reads a statement from the Ontario NDP Party.
After 18 long months of endless noise, it looks like Torontonians will finally have the peace and quiet they deserve.
