Kelowna

A proposed bylaw could soon require Big White residents to turn down their music.

The proposed bylaw would be a way for the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary to enforce noise complaints, but first the bylaw has to make it through the alternative approval process.

Wayne Hill, past chair of the Big White community association, says the proposed bylaw would be similar to ones already in existence in the City of Kelowna and the Regional District of the Central Okanagan.

“The residents at Big White have been asking for some time for that sort of bylaw and that bylaw has been created and is now before the public to either approve or disapprove. If it is approved, it will be similar to the noise bylaw in the City of Kelowna, it'll be enforced either by bylaw enforcement or by the RCMP so we just have to wait and see if it is approved and we'll go from there,” says Hill.

He says because Big White is a destination resort, there are occasional parties which get too loud for neighbours.

“By having a noise bylaw it just gives something that can be dealt with at the time of the noise. Prior to this, building managers would just ask the parties to settle down, if that became very difficult of the RCMP would be called in and they would see that the party was cooled down.”

Hill says the bylaw has been in the works for a number of years.

“As you can appreciate, it takes some time to get this sort of thing established. We've been working on it for the last couple of years, but the Regional District has to get the municipal branch of the government to approve the bylaw so that's all been done now, it's just a question of ratifying it.

Elaine Kumar with the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary says eligible voters have until March 23 to fill out an elector response form for the alternate approve process.

“For this process, 10 percent of eligible voters from the Big White area must fill out the forms, which in this case is about 138 people. Once the results are in from the forms, the board of governors will decide if the issue needs to be taken to a referendum,” says Kumar.

She says the bylaw will establish a service for the regulation and control of noise at Big White.

“We don't know yet how we will regulate or control noise, that will be part of the service, will we have someone who is just like a noise control officer or. The cost for the service would be recovered using property value taxation, so taxes will go up based on assessment. I'm imagining if this thing did go through, someone could be charged for being too noisy, so that's another way to recover the cost of providing the services.”

Kumar says in order to fill out an elector response form, the resident must own property in the Big White area, be a resident of B.C. and be over the age of 18.