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COLUMN: Violations will continue

T hey say good fences make good neighbours.
Helmut

They say good fences make good neighbours. Will the Good Neighbour Guidelines, recently published by the District of Squamish, move the needle beyond that proverb to the next level of harmony? 

The 28-page guidelines booklet is brimming with bylaws, common-sense practices and handy information designed to promote public safety and civic responsibility. It covers all the bases, including animal care and control, backyard campfires, bees and hens, building permits, noise, parking, untidy properties, wildlife attractants, and the list goes on. 

As far as civic duties are concerned, the guidelines advise residents to clear snow from walkways in front of their buildings. But they also stipulate homeowners should clear snow from culverts, catch basins and storm drains near their property. 

For many households that directive will generate the kind of anticipatory excitement associated with having a fleet enema. 

Picture yourself in the dead of winter hacking at half a metre of ice and snow to free up the drainage system on the street in front of your townhouse. 

How about calling on the maintenance staff at the DOS to shoulder that burden? Besides being well trained and equipped, they are amply compensated to handle those duties. 

One of the guidelines states that “No person shall make, cause, or permit any noise, sound or vibration which disturbs the quiet, peace, rest, enjoyment, comfort or convenience of any person.” Apparently, not everyone has embraced that decree. More than a few drivers continue to rumble through town with tricked out exhaust systems, or fire up their muffler challenged vehicles at 6 a.m., just when the rest of the neighbourhood wants to catch an extra hour of zeds. 

When it comes to noise thresholds, long-time Squamish homeowner Tony Addis is unhappy about the District’s interpretation of neighbourliness. “Good neighbour policy. Well what does that mean?” he asked on the District’s website comments page. 

According to Addis, when council amended the bylaw to allow home-based daycare providers to increase their enrollment from 8 to 16 children they failed to consider the rights of neighbours. 

Consequently, the house he has quietly enjoyed for 37 years now reverberates with what he calls “screaming and crying kids.” When he approached the folks at muni hall he was informed the daycare providers are well within their rights to let their charges make noise. 

Addis said that District staff also told him if he has a problem with that interpretation he should file a civil suit against the operation.

Everything considered, despite a few questionable sections, the guidelines are a step in the right direction if they raise the Squamish civic responsibility bar higher. Still, in the end, compliance will continue to be a voluntary proposition and unless municipal officials install a more robust bylaw enforcement regimen, violations will persist.

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