The path is now clear for London bar and restaurants to have amplified music on outdoor patios.
An Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) appeal of the City of Zoning Bylaw has been officially lifted, which now makes it possible for local businesses to apply for a temporary sound permit from the City of London Licensing Office. The permit will allow amplified sound up to 70 decibels on patios until midnight.
After it was introduced in 2017, a local resident filed an appeal with the OMB last summer to halt a city bylaw, but announced on Monday that she was dropping the appeal after losing faith in the process.
Chief Municipal Law Enforcement Officer Orest Katolyk said he was notified Tuesday morning that the appeal had been lifted. He says while the city has not yet received any applications, it previously had two applicants prior to the appeal being filed.
"I'm talking with our music office right now on how we are going to roll out this information to those folks who do have patios because we have had contact with them previously last year," he said. "We will look at each application on its own merit. For example an application in a suburban area where there is a neighbourhood pub surrounded by homes, they will have a different condition than an application on Richmond St."
Katolyk said the application process will look at each individual business and will consider a number of factors such as the surrounding land use, the patio floor plan, the location and direction of any amplification and sound mitigation protocols. The permits will be granted for to six months.
London Music Officer Cory Crossman said it's welcome news that the bylaw is moving forward.
“Amplified entertainment on patios is a significant step forward and a fundamental building block in growing London’s creative economy," said Crossman. "This will help local musicians and businesses as we head into the warmer weather. Whether it’s a band, ball game or even just background music, this will help make the experience more rich and dynamic for patrons of businesses that have patios.”
To ensure the volume is kept at an acceptable level, Katolyk said the city will be able to have an acoustic engineer take periodic readings and monitor the decibels.
"We presented a report to council where we actually went out with a decibel reader in one hand and amps and a speaker in the other and we set up on a number of patios in London and with music playing quite loud we measured from the patio, on the patio, in the neighbourhood and then with music totally off," he said. "We wanted to see what the ambient sound was. We landed on a maximum of 70 decibels at the point of reception in the neighbourhood."
Those who feel the music is too loud are able to issue a complaint with the city, said Katolyk.
"It's all about balance," he said. "To have a progressive city you need to have different types of land uses evolve. We looked at these evolutions in several North American cities which are quite popular with music and culture, Memphis is one, Austin, Texas, New Orleans. All of those cities have very well balanced regulations which involved major tourism in terms of music on patios, at the same time having compatible land uses adjacent to them."
-With files from Miranda Chant