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BY-LAW 767-2015
OF THE TOWN OF BASHAW IN THE PROVINCE OF ALBERTA.
A BY-LAW TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN PUBLIC DISTURBANCES IN THE TOWN OF
BASHAW, IN THE PROVINCE OF ALBERTA.
WHEREAS pursuant to the Municipal Government Act, RSA 2013, the Council of the
Municipality may pass a by-law respecting the safety, health, and welfare of people and
the protection of people and property and respecting the people, activities, and things
in, on, or near a public place.
NOW THEREFORE THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF THE Town of Bashaw, IN THE
PROVINCE OF ALBERTA, DULY ASSEMBLED, ENACTS AS FOLLOWS:
1. SHORT TITLE
This By-Law may be cited as the "Public Disturbances By-Law".
2. DEFINITIONS
In this by-law:
a) "Construction Equipment" includes, but is not limited to trenching machines,
concrete mixers, backhoes and similar equipment.
b) "Development Officer" means a Development Officer appointed by the Municipality
or his or her designate.
c) "Disturbance" means the interruption of the peace, quiet and good order of a
neighbourhood or community, including but not limited to unnecessary and
distracting noises.
d) "Firearm" means a barreled weapon from which any shot, bullet or other projectile
can be discharged and includes, without limitation, a rifle, shotgun, revolver, pistol
and air gun.
e) "Loiter" means to stand idly around or move slowly about or to linger or spend time
idly.
f) "Manager" means the Chief Administrative Officer of the Municipality.
g) "Minor" means an individual under 18 years of age.
h) "Molesting" means to interfere with, annoy or disturb maliciously.
i) "Peace Officer" means a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a County
Officer, Community Peace Officer; appointment pursuant to the provisions of the
Police Act (Alberta), or Designated By-Law Enforcement Officer of the
Municipality.
j) "Person" means an individual or any business or other entity including a Firm,
Partnership, Association, Corporation, Company, or Society but does not include
the Municipality.
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k) "Premises" means the external surfaces of all buildings and the whole or part of
any parcel of real property, including the land immediately adjacent to any
building or buildings.
l) "Power Tool" includes any tool powered by an engine, motor, or compressed air.
m) "Public Place" means any place including privately and publicly owned or leased
property, to which the public reasonably has or is permitted to have access,
whether on payment or otherwise, within the municipal limits of the Municipality.
n)
"Public Property" means any schoolyard, highway, parkland, public bridge,
road, lane, footway, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not, and includes
any open space to which the public have or are permitted to have access.
o) "Quiet Hours" shall mean between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. on any
day.
p) "Residential District" means any district designated for residential use in the
Municipality's Land Use Bylaw as amended from time to time.
q) "Municipality" means the municipal corporation of the Town of Bashaw or where
the
context permits, means the area within the municipal limits of the Town of
Bashaw.
3. GENERAL PROHIBITION
3.1
Except to the extent permitted by this by-law, no person shall make, continue,
cause or allow to be made or continued any unreasonably loud, raucous or
unusual noise which annoys, disturbs, injures, endangers or detracts from the
comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of any other person of ordinary
sensitivity within the Municipality.
3.2
Except to the extent permitted, by this bylaw, no person shall permit, suffer or
allow property, real or personal which he owns, occupies or controls, to be used
in a manner such that there emanates there from any unreasonably loud,
raucous or unusual noise which annoys, disturbs, injures, endangers or detracts
from the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of any other person of ordinary
sensitivity within the Municipality.
3.3
Factors for determining whether a sound is unreasonably loud, raucous or
unusual include, but are not limited to, the following:
(a) proximity of the sound to sleeping facilities, whether residential or
commercial;
(b) the time of day or night the sound occurs;
(c) the duration and volume of the sound; and
(d) whether the sound is recurrent, intermittent or constant.
3.4
No person unless lawfully authorized shall discharge any firearm within the
Municipality.
3.5
No person shall urinate or defecate on any public property.
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4. LOITERING
4.1
No person shall by himself or with another person loiter in a public place in such
a manner as to obstruct, hinder or impede:
(a) the free and uninterrupted passage of vehicles, traffic or pedestrians
through, from or to such public place;
(b) access to the entryway of any premises normally used by the public for
gaining entrance to the premises, unless permission is granted by the
person in authority of the property.
4.2
No person shall loiter on any property where the person in authority of the
property prohibits loitering on the property.
4.3
Any person shall be deemed to be loitering within the meaning of this bylaw
when he is standing or sitting on any highway, including, without limiting the
generality of the foregoing any sidewalk located thereon or within three feet
thereof, and fails to vacate the area when requested to do so by a peace officer.
4.4
Any person shall be deemed to be loitering within the meaning of this bylaw
when he is standing or putting his feet on the top surface of any table, bench,
planter or sculpture placed in any public place.
4.5
When a peace officer finds any person loitering, he may direct such person to
cease such loitering and vacate the area, and any person so directed shall
forthwith cease such loitering and vacate.
No prosecution shall be commenced for contravention of the loitering provisions of this
bylaw unless a warning to cease loitering and vacate the area has first been given by a
peace officer or any person in authority of the property.
5. MOTOR VEHICLES
5.1
No person shall use or engage in the use of engine retarder brakes within the
Municipality.
5.2
No person shall allow a motor vehicle engine to remain running in a residential
district or within one hundred and fifty meters of a residential district for longer
than 20 minutes while the motor vehicle is not in motion.
5.3
The failure of a person to comply with the provisions of the Traffic Safety Act or
any regulations thereunder regarding:
(a) the prohibition against the use of signaling devices on motor vehicles
so as to make more noise than is reasonably necessary;
(b) the restrictions in the type or use of mufflers and similar equipment;
(c) the prohibition against creating or causing the emission of any loud and
unnecessary noise from a motor vehicle.
6. CONSTRUCTION
6.1
Unless written permission from a Development Officer is first obtained, no person
shall during quiet hours carry on the construction, repair, alteration, or demolition
of any type of structure including but not limited to hammering, sawing, and the
use of any power tools or construction equipment capable of creating a sound
which may be heard beyond the boundaries of the site on which the activity is
being carried on within the Municipality.
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6.2
Each construction site shall have a waste container to ensure that waste
construction materials are placed in the container to prevent the material from
being blown away from the construction site.
6.3
No loose construction material is to be stored or accumulated on a construction
site unless it is not capable of being blown around the construction area.
7. DOMESTIC
7.1
No person shall operate construction equipment, power tools, a power lawn
mower, or any snow-clearing device in any residential district during quiet hours.
8. INDUSTRIAL
8.1
Nothing in this Bylaw shall prevent the continual operation or carrying on of an
industrial activity where the activity is one which:
i. is a permitted use; or
ii. is an approved discretionary use;
8.2
In the operation or carrying on of an industrial activity, the person operating or
carrying on that activity shall make no more noise than is necessary in the
normal method of performing or carrying on that activity.
9. SNOW REMOVAL
9.1
No person shall remove snow from commercial or private property in or adjacent
to a residential district during quiet hours without a permit granted by the
Development Officer.
10. AUTHORITY TO REMOVE
10.1 The Chief Administrative Officer may authorize any Municipal employee, or other
person, to remove and put in storage or destroy anything placed upon Municipal
property in contravention of this bylaw.
11. EXCEPTIONS
11.1 This bylaw shall not apply to:
(a) Any person performing work of an emergency nature for the
preservation or protection of life, health, or property, but the onus shall be
on the person performing the work to show that the work was of an
emergency nature;
(b) Any act of maintenance or repair being carried out by employees or
contractors of the Municipality;
(c) Any act of emergency maintenance or repair being carried out by
employees or
contractors of any private utility;
(d) The operation of emergency equipment or any emergency vehicle;
(e) A Peace Officer engaged in performing his duty; or
(f) Any activity within the sole jurisdiction of the Government of Canada or
the Province of Alberta.
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12. PERMITS
12.1 A Development Officer may issue a permit to a person for the purpose of
allowing noise within a designated area and between designated times. Such
permit may be revoked at any time by the Municipality's Manager.
13. SEVERANCE
13.1 If any section of this Bylaw is found to be illegal or beyond the power of the
Municipality's Council to enact, such section shall be deemed to be severable
from all other sections of this Bylaw, and the remaining Bylaw will continue to be
in force.
14. PENALTIES
14.1 Any person who contravenes any provision of this By-Law, is guilty of an offence
punishable on summary conviction and is liable as outlined in Schedule A,
Master Rates and Schedules Bylaw 760-2014.
15. REPEAL
15.1 This bylaw repeals Bylaw 741-2012.
15.2 This bylaw shall take effect on the date it is passed.
READ a first time this 17TH day of September, 2015.
READ a second time this 17th day of September , 2015.
UNANIMOUS CONSENT for a third reading this 1st day of October 2015.
READ a third time and finally passed this 1st day of October , 2015.
Penny Shantz .
MAYOR
Theresa Fuller .
CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER