The filed record
Follow Up on 2024.EC9.5: Implementation Review of the Noise By-law - Stationary Decibel Levels for Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles
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The decision
2024-03-20 · Toronto City Council · amended
As filed
City Council on March 20 and 21, 2024, adopted the following: 1. City Council amend Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 591, Noise to replace subsection 591-2.5C with the following: "No person shall emit or cause or permit the emission of any sound from a stationary motor vehicle exceeding the following when measured at least 50 cm from the exhaust outlet using a sound level meter: (a) 92 dB(A) at idle; or (b) 96 dB(A) at any engine speed greater than idle." such change to come into force on June 1, 2024.
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2. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to work with community groups and resident associations to improve monitoring of excessive noise from stationary and moving motor vehicles, and to take complaints and community sound level meter measurements into account when setting enforcement priorities, in addition to the public education efforts in 2024.EC9.5 headed "Implementation Review of the Noise By-law." 3. City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, in consultation with the Medical Officer of Health, to report back to the Economic and Community Development Committee by the first quarter of 2025 regarding the effectiveness of these measures in reducing the adverse health effects of motor vehicle noise, including enforcement initiatives taken, complaint levels and community sound level meter measurements.
On the agenda
As the city filed it
On January 11, 2024, the Economic and Community Development Committee adopted, with amendments, 2024.EC9.5: Implementation Review of the Noise By-law. A key recommendation in the staff report was to implement Council direction to add a noise decibel limit for stationary motor vehicles, in addition to limits currently in place for motorcycles at idle. The proposed limits align with industry standards and associated test procedures and were recommended in consultation with an acoustical engineering firm.
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The Committee referred this specific change back to Committee and requested staff report back to the February 20, 2024, Economic and Community Development Committee meeting on options for reduced decibel levels for motorcycles and motor vehicles. This supplementary report provides the Committee with further information regarding proposed motorcycle and motor vehicle noise decibel limits, including additional details on how decibel limits are measured and the importance of the distance a measurement is taken (as sound levels vary depending on one's distance from the noise source). After additional consideration, staff recommend keeping the decibel limits as proposed in 2024.EC9.5. The proposed limits are the lowest decibel limit range identified for implementation by the acoustical engineer, respond to Council direction to implement a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) standard, and are consistent with those that have been implemented and enforced in other Ontario municipalities. In addition, the proposed approach has been endorsed by Toronto Police Service (TPS) staff, whose Board requested that MLS consider enforceable decibel limits above idle. If and when updated limits are approved, TPS staff have confirmed their support in conducting periodic joint enforcement initiatives with MLS to address excessive vehicle noise and illegally modified vehicles. The goal of implementing decibel limits for motorcycles and motor vehicles is to target excessively noisy vehicles with modified emissions systems, not to inadvertently capture the use of normally operating motorcycles or other motor vehicles in the City. Introducing decibel limits as proposed in 2024.EC9.5 would accomplish this policy goal.
Staff recommended
The Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards recommends that: 1. City Council amend Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 591, Noise to replace 591-2.5C with the following: "No person shall emit or cause or permit the emission of any sound from a stationary motor vehicle exceeding the following when measured at least 50 cm from the exhaust outlet using a sound level meter: (a) 92 dB(A) at idle; or (b) 96 dB(A) at any engine speed greater than idle." 2. City Council direct that the amendment come into force on June 1, 2024.
Considered
2024-02-20 · Economic and Community Development Committee · forwarded without recommendation
Decision as filed
The Economic and Community Development Committee forwards the item to City Council without recommendations.
Clerk’s note
The Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards gave a presentation on Follow Up on 2024.EC9.5: Stationary Decibel Levels for Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles.
2024-03-20 · Toronto City Council · amended