Complaints about animal rescue shelter prompt TNRD move to create noise bylaw

NEWS/ TRND — Complaints about dogs will result in an anti-noise bylaw for rural areas.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District, meeting in committee as a whole today, directed staff to come back with a bylaw that will restrict noisy dogs but not include industrial noise.

A long-standing controversy over noise from Angel’s Animal Rescue shelter in Canford in the Nicola Valley came to a head at today’s meeting as staff offered several options to try to deal with it.

The animal shelter has been operating on Torgerson Road in Canford since 2008 and has been the subject of numerous noise complaints. The only bylaw that applied to the property was the regional zoning bylaw, which includes kennels but which doesn’t include anything about noise.

An attempt by the owners to relocate a couple of years ago didn’t work out.

In February, neighbour Norma Cannon complained to the board about the noise again.

Today, staff proposed several options, including amending the zoning bylaw to limit the number of dogs, passing a noise bylaw, passing an animal control bylaw, encouraging the shelter to fix the problem, or facilitating mediation between the operators and area residents.

Kamloops director Pat Wallace preferred mediation in order to maintain “goodwill,” and several directors agreed, but most voted for a noise bylaw. Once the bylaw is drafted, it will be put in front of the board for a final decision.

Staff said the bylaw won’t be complicated and won’t need additional staff. However, it “would not eliminate all noise given kennel use is permitted and with this use there is a legitimate expectation that dogs bark.”

The report also noted that “noise itself can be subjective” and that including decibel limits in the bylaw is costly and may not solve the issue.