Turning down the volume. Ottawa Bylaw Services receives fewest noise complaints in 8 years
Ottawa residents appeared to be turning down the volume last year, as Bylaw Services received the fewest noise complaints in eight years.
The Ottawa Bylaw and Regulatory Services 2024 annual report shows the city received 9,789 noise-related complaints in 2024, down from 11,039 in 2023 and 12,339 in 2020.
'The decrease in noise-related service requests can likely be attributed to residents spending more time away from home as they return to the office following the pandemic,' staff said in a report for the emergency preparedness and protective services committee.
The 9,789 noise-related complaints in 2024 are the fewest noise complaints since 2016, when 9,717 noise-related complaints were filed to Bylaw Services.
Bylaw Services officers responded to more than 55,107 service requests in 2024, including the 9,789 requests for noise.
There were 13,385 requests for animal care and control, 2,681 requests for sick/injured animals and 18,245 requests for property standards and zoning enforcement.
The report says there were 496 service requests in relation to vacant properties last year, with 55 charges issued for various infractions.
'Their work resulted in the issuance of 247 permits, representing over 500 addresses, including subdivisions slated for future development,' staff said in the report.
'Over 55 charges were issued under various applicable regulations and more than 80 enforcement actions were taken, including Court Summonses, Notices of Violation, Property Standards Orders and contracting out of required work.
Illegal dumping
Bylaw Services responded to 576 service requests for illegal dumping, up 43 per cent over 2023.
'This increase is likely attributed to ongoing city-wide public education and the creation of a new online reporting mechanism arising from Council approval and subsequent implementation of Public Works' Curbside Waste Diversion Policy, including the three-item limit which took effect in Fall 2024,' staff said in the report.
'Bylaw and Regulatory Services will continue to monitor the annual service requests related to illegal dumping and monitor year over year trends.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
27 minutes ago
- CBC
P.E.I. Humane Society is over its capacity, though most of the animals are not up for adoption
Fewer than 25 animals are up for adoption at the P.E.I. Humane Society, but the shelter is asking for the public to be patient because it's straining to care for more than 200. As CBC's Sheehan Desjardins reports, some are waiting to enter the adoption program… but others never will.
CBC
27 minutes ago
- CBC
The Avon River overpass was supposed to be done in 2023. Why isn't it finished?
The twinning project between Three Mile Plains and Falmouth was supposed to be completed almost two years ago. The CBC's Michael Gorman explains why, after so many delays, officials feel an end could be in sight.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
She lost her home, cats and prosthetic leg in the Western Bay fire. But she's determined to go back
Elsa Fitzgerald took the phone from her husband Monday evening when the emotions became too much for him to handle. On the other end, a provincial government employee repeated to Elsa what she'd told Stephen moments earlier. Your house is gone. There are mental health supports available to you. The rest of the call is still a blur. "There's nothing going to replace your home," Elsa said through tears on Tuesday morning at the evacuation centre in Carbonear. "And we didn't have insurance, so our home is gone and we don't even know if we can rebuild." The call to evacuate came late in the night on Aug. 4, as the Kingston wildfire jumped from community to community on the north shore of Conception Bay. WATCH | 'It's all gone': This woman lost her home and her prosthetic leg in the fire, and doesn't know what to do next 'It's all gone': This woman lost her home and her prosthetic leg in the fire, and doesn't know what to do next 14 minutes ago Elsa Fitzgerald couldn't hold back the tears as she described how overwhelmed she felt upon learning her Western Bay home was gone. She said when she and her husband fled, they didn't think they'd be gone for more than a couple of days. The CBC's Ryan Cooke has their story. The Fitzgeralds made quick decisions as they scrambled to leave, banking on the assumption they'd be home again in a few days, just like the last time a fire ripped through a neighbouring town. They left out food and water for their two cats. Elsa left behind her prosthetic leg, which had been giving her trouble in recent days. "I never even thought to bring my leg. I said, well, that will give it a couple days' rest and it will be healed up when I go home. But now my leg is gone." Elsa also left behind the leg and foot rests for her wheelchair, not thinking to grab them in the rush to get out the door. "That's it. It's all gone," she said. Stephen and Elsa met at trade school. They got married 15 years ago, and moved into Stephen's family home in Western Bay. He spent his entire life in the home, from the time he was born in 1971 until the frantic night they fled the encroaching wildfire. "It leaves me stranded," he said. "There's a lot of destruction in Western Bay. A lot of stuff that was valuable to me, and my wife. I just lost everything." Western Bay — an unincorporated town — was hit the hardest by the fire that first broke out seven kilometres away in Kingston on Aug. 3. Premier John Hogan gave an update Tuesday morning, confirming 203 structures were lost so far, including 86 in Western Bay alone. Longtime residents say that's almost every structure in Western Bay. But not all of them. Joe O'Leary was told on Monday night that his home is one of the few left standing. The 84-year-old built the house 57 years ago. "Sad thoughts. A lot of my friends have their homes gone," he said. "My wife's sister lost her house and 10 of her sheep. The post office right across the road from me is gone. Most of the guys I know, their houses, most of them are gone." O'Leary said his home is in good shape on the outside, but he's not sure about smoke damage to the interior. If he can go back, he will. But it will always be accompanied by a solemn feeling. "Loneliness," he said. "I mean, the post office was right across the road from me. And Cull's Store. That's all gone. I lived with that. That was there, every day, every morning, you wake up and it's there ... and now it's all gone." For Elsa, the devastation is met with a resilient urge. Nothing can stop her from going home again. "Oh I'm definitely going back, supposing I do have to pitch a tent," she said. "I've got a winterized tent I can borrow and I've got a wood stove that can go into it. And if I got to do that, then that's what I'm going to do. I've got to go back. That's home."
