By: Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
Though Essex Council was asked to review the Town’s Noise By-Law to determine whether it is written clearly and consistently – in addition to being defensible and enforceable – there was not enough support around the municipal decision-making table during the January 12 meeting to pass the request.
Resident Corey St. Onge approached Council on the matter, asking the local decision-makers to direct Town staff to review the Noise By-Law – which is under a year-old – and report back with options to align with comparable Ontario municipalities, specifically addressing crowd noises in agricultural areas.
He said he was not asking Council to take a position regarding any operator, property, or activity, or referee competing interests.
“Our current Noise By-Law relies heavily on specific prohibitions, rather than strong, general standards,” St. Onge said.
“This matters, because when an activity is not specifically prohibited, and when enforcement tools are limited, the By-Law unintentionally creates areas where residents have no meaningful protection at all,” he claimed. “This is not a behavioural problem; this is a system design problem.”
Currently, to his understanding, the Noise By-Law provides different levels of protection depending on zoning.
In residential areas, yelling, hooting, and hollering are prohibited at all times. In commercial areas, they are prohibited overnight. In ag areas, there is no prohibition day or night, he said.
“This means two residents paying the same residential tax rate, living in the same municipality, receive very different protections, purely because of zoning,” St. Onge said.
He claimed the way the By-Law is currently written, By-Law Officers do not have the ability to act when sound includes crowd or background noises.
“A By-Law that cannot be enforced is not protecting anyone, except the violators,” he said, adding when a By-Law cannot be enforced, behaviour does not stabilize, its escalates because silence is interpreted as permission.
“Good By-Laws prevent Council from being put in the middle,” St. Onge added.
He suspects that if the problem is not corrected, it will return with different neighbours, different properties, and different Councils.
He said he reviewed 20 different municipal noise By-Laws. Of those 16 regulate yelling, hooting, and hollering in some form. 14 apply that regulation in agricultural areas either directly or through a time-based restriction. Most of the remaining municipalities include a general prohibition on noise. He said there were two municipalities with no meaningful protection for residents in ag areas, Essex was one of them.
Though sound meters are often seen as a solution, St. Onge said they do not isolate music from cheering, and do not exclude insects or wind.
Normal farm practices should be protected, he added.
Councillor Kim Verbeek spoke of how she lives in a rural area, with three sides of her property surrounded by fields. She spoke of how a neighbour has a party twice a year. There is a lot of hooting and hollering, and pounding and drumming. She loves that they are having a great time.
Looking at the By-Law, if that were to occur every weekend, to her understanding, she would not have the ability to call Town By-Law Officers or the police in to help her. She would like Council to look at this.
Manager of Legal and Licensing, and Enforcement, Cory Simard, said that back in 2023, the Town was given a legal opinion, which started the work towards the current Noise By-Law. It was adopted in early 2025, making it more of an objective standard than it was previously.
One of the things addressed in the current By-Law is the need for more specificity and certainty, he said.
Ontario Courts measure sound as objectively as possible through decibel levels.
The difficult part is that noise by-laws are often quashed by courts, due mainly to not being that objective, Simard explained.
In looking at the local municipalities, four have an explicit prohibition of yelling, hooting and hollering. Three don’t mention it at all. Essex doesn’t have that for properties zoned as agricultural.
Staff would require more time to look at the matter, Simard added.
Director of Legal and Legislative Services, Joe Malandruccolo, noted music and hollering are two different things in the Town’s By-Law. The hollering has different standards in urban and rural areas, he believes, because of the farm practice piece.
Music noise is prohibited in every area, requiring residents to obtain permits and exemptions to do so. If a resident tries to hold an unreasonable number of parties, the Clerk’s Department will decline those noise exemption permits and will provide fines.
Earlier this year, St. Onge was one of many delegates coming to Council expressing concern regarding a temporary Site-Specific Zoning By-Law Amendment submitted to the Town on the 6th Concession Road, which would have resulted in the allowance of an event venue. It was denied in September.
Malandruccolo said specific to that issue, the Town has issued a letter to that property noting if is acting in offence of the Zoning By-Law, the Town will take steps to enforce the By-Law and shut down operations against it, as it is not zoned to create noise.
Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley liked the By-Law when it was introduced, because it gave a firm level for noise.
His worry is that a new sound in a rural area could sound louder than it is. He was not sure the time was right to dismantle the By-Law. He was happy to receive the delegation and noted the information provided was good.
He had no problem in reviewing it once it had been in place for a while, he did caution that could have a rippling effect on wineries and other on-farm diversified uses. If administration does come up with a recommendation, he believes they will bring it forward.
Mayor Sherry Bondy has been on Council for over a decade and has received noise complaints from all over the municipality. She saw no issue with making tweaks if they were needed. She wanted the Town to be proactive, as she believes more noise complaints will come with more businesses coming up on rural lands.
A By-Law that doesn’t match the needs of the rural area is also resulting in taxpayer dollars in OPP calls, Bondy added. She wanted the decibel level reviewed and to incorporate the rural area into the By-Law.
Malandruccolo suggested the decibel-level not be part of the motion, as the Town researched that in 2025. He said it is a low volume, based on expert advice.
Simard relayed the By-Law currently prohibits exceeding 45 decibels from 7am-4pm, 55 decibels from 4pm-11pm, and 11pm-7am 40 decibels. That provides an objective standard, he said.
Councillor Joe Garon added the Town has to have a decibel-level that will satisfy courts, as well.
Councillor Brad Allard suggested a few word changes in the By-Law could make a big difference to a lot of people.
Verbeek moved to potentially consider extending prohibiting hooting and hollering in agricultural areas, and have staff review and research common themes and best practices of varying municipalities to determine what effect that could have.
This failed in a tie vote, with Deputy Mayor Shepley, and Councillors Katie McGuire-Blais, Garon, and Rodney Hammond opposed.
Mayor Bondy hoped this matter can be talked about in a roundtable discussion in the future.
Councillor Hammond encouraged residents to continue to do their due diligence and make the complaints and give the Town’s By-Law Officers the data they need to adjust the By-Law.