Annika Keppo and her friends were shocked early one recent October morning when a bylaw officer arrived at their residence to give them a noise complaint.

The fourth-year Carleton student says she and her roommates host people semi-regularly in their Glebe home, but have never before received a noise complaint in three years living at the place.

It appears that such complaints are much more common in certain areas of the city.

A Capital Current analysis of data from the City of Ottawa’s 311 open data portal, found noise complaints for music and shouting in wards surrounding the University of Ottawa and Carleton University increased significantly in September. 

Not a peep in other wards.

Data covering the period Jan. 1 to Nov. 6 from the Ottawa 311 open data portal shows Rideau-Vanier, Somerset and River Wards experienced the greatest increase in complaints about loud music and shouting. Music and noise are the most common complaints, followed by construction and machinery such as air conditioners and lawn mowers. 

The same data shows urban wards, such as Rideau-Vanier and Somerset have the highest number of overall reported complaints.

The University of Ottawa and Carleton University each fall within the boundaries of Rideau-Vanier and River respectively. 

Annika Keppo lives in Capital Ward and says the street she lives on largely houses students. 

“My roommates and I and some of our friends who live on the same street were over at our house and we were having a small sit down, listening to music outside on the driveway.”

“I think it was maybe three in the morning. … At that point music wasn’t playing anymore,” she added.

Keppo says she's surprised that instance was one for which they received a complaint, especially considering they had hosted a party the weekend prior which ran late into the night.

Rideau-Vanier Ward

Rideau-Vanier includes Lower Town, Sandy Hill and Vanier, and contains the University of Ottawa and the ByWard Market. 

Represented by Coun. Stéphanie Plante, Rideau-Vanier saw the most dramatic increase in September for reported music and shouting complaints. This has been a trend for the last three years, the Capital Current analysis of the 311 data shows.

Plante says she is hesitant to place the blame entirely on students but she said she does receive an influx of complaints in September because of events students frequent.

“There’s football games almost every single weekend, and then we have Panda. Which is not just a sporting event, it’s like a party in the neighbourhood,” says Plante. “We have frosh week and then there's the general, like move in. … The weekend that students move in, it's a bit of a party central, first the week of and then the week after.”

Plante says such events produce the majority of complaints coming to her inbox in the fall.  

The ByWard Market in Rideau-Vanier, describes itself as Ottawa’s number one tourist attraction, with more than 600 independent businesses attracting some 50,000 visitors each weekend during the peak summer months. 

The Market boasts an active nightlife which Plante says contributes to a large portion of the noise complaints. 

“There’s a lot of people who are playing music a little too late, a little too loud than they should. Because I think a lot of people don’t realize that the ByWard Market is a residential area as well. It’s not just bars and restaurants.” 

Plante says she acknowledges that many people in her ward are struggling with some sort of setback, including mental health issues and drug use which contribute to noise complaints. 

“I guess you know, you can try to blame it all on the students. A lot of people try to blame a lot of things on students, but I don’t,” said Plante. 

Residents are urged to report non-emergency disturbances such as noise through the 3-1-1 service, which provides multiple channels for submitting complaints, including phone, email and an online portal. 

Plante says complaints about noise are a year-long problem, and that her office is working with other councillors, members of the city's Public Policy Development department and members of the city’s ongoing bylaw review panel about addressing noise related to public events. 

In a statement to Capital Current, Valérie Bietlot, the city's manager of Public Policy Development says: 

“While the City’s Noise By-law is not scheduled for a full review this Term of Council, I can confirm that staff are considering noise issues as part of our ongoing review of the City’s two special events bylaws — namely, the Special Events on City Streets By-law (2002-260, as amended) and the Special Events on Private and Public Property By-law (2013-232, as amended).”

The special events by-laws review will look at many things including if permits are necessary for smaller events which occur in whole, or in part, on city streets and/or sidewalks. 

More information on the topic can be found on the City’s Engage Ottawa page.

To this day, Keppo says she and her friends have no idea who called in the noise complaint. But she says they are in no rush to change any habits. 

“I don’t think my roommates and I are going to do anything differently. We have already thrown parties since then, that were way louder than the incident when we got the complaint, and will continue to have them in the future.”

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