Council does not sit idle on ‘excessive’ idling and moves to re-open bylaw

By Timothy Schafer

All the city could do, he said, was follow up with a bylaw officer and go by the address and see what was happening.

An unsubstantiated incident of alleged excessive vehicle idling has prompted city council to look at re-opening the noise and idling bylaws to make changes.

At their Jan. 30 regular meeting city council had received a letter from Grand Forks resident Jack Koochin about a “serious problem” that affected “the entire neighbourhood, as well as our city.”

Koochin detailed some examples of how one neighbour — that owned a diesel pickup truck — on 17th Street idles continually, for excessive periods, “disrupting the neighbourhood with the noise and causing rather serious air pollution,” he wrote.

He also gave five dates as an example, with idling times, the longest being one hour and 35 minutes. As well, Koochin had submitted two complaints in writing in December to the city bylaw officer but was advised nothing could be done due to a provision in the Idling Bylaw allowing unlimited idling if the temperature is below zero degrees Celsius.

“There is absolutely no need to idle any vehicle longer than 10 or 15 or so minutes at any time of the year,” he wrote. “This is a loud truck, and I can hear/feel it idling even when in my basement.”

The plea struck a chord with council. Coun. Chris Hammett wondered where council wanted to go with the letter.

“I think we had talked about adjusting the bylaw to amend the amount of idling on residential streets, especially diesel trucks,” she said.

City chief administrative officer Doug Allin said this was one complaint and allegations by one individual and the details had not been substantiated. All the city could do, he said, was follow up with a bylaw officer and go by the address and see what was happening.

“But they are not in contravention of the bylaw,” Allin explained.

If council wished to bring the Idling Bylaw back to the table, it could remove the exemptions that say if it is below zero, the bylaw does not apply, he noted.

“That (bylaw) may be antiquated and could be brought back for amendment,” Allin said.

At this point bylaw doesn’t have any points of enforcement because no temperatures were listed for the days recorded, nor are they substantiated, he stated.

Coun. Beverley Tripp said she thought council had the intention of amending the bylaw.

“We did feel it was possibly not meeting up to some of our other sustainable community plans … because of the idling and pollution,” she said. “So I think it would be important to revisit this.”

Her neighbourhood had semi-trailer trucks parked in driveway s and regularly on the streets, she claimed.

Coun. Julia Butler made a motion to direct city staff to research into idling times to see what the appropriate amount of time a diesel truck needs to idle on cold days.

“Obviously people need to warm up their vehicles but I think the amount suggested here is excessive,” she said.

Coun. Christine Thompson also supported re-opening the bylaw to see what changes could be made.

Council voted in favour or receiving the letter, and passed the motion to refer the Noise Bylaw and Idling Bylaw back to staff to bring forward to council ideas on how it might be updated to deal with these issues.